I'm extremely sorry for posting this so late. I haven't been able to work on this for different reasons, like having to get school supplies, my computer acting up, and other personal stuff.

Lizzie Salvatore: Thank you for the advice, I'll do my best to fix my chapters :]

ToughGirlsRuleTheWorld: I'm sorry that you don't understand it completely, but later on I'm going to try to explain it a little bit better. No, they don't know about Tim's condition just yet, though Helena knows, obviously. Yes, Selina, Talia, and Bruce will definitely all be in the same room at some point, and yes, it will be awkward, especially for Damian. This site says its wrong to spell Selina and Talia's like this, is because there are different ways to spell it like Selena and Thalia. I'm showing how Dick feels towards Tim in this chapter, and I'll be showing how the other bat siblings feel about Tim, but Bruce isn't really sure how to feel about Tim right now, mostly because it was Catwoman he mostly dealt with, and his sidekicks dealt with Tim. Later in the story his feelings towards Tim will come out. And yes, Helena's dream was very convenient, wasn't it? Yes, there will be a ship between Bruce and one of Tim's moms, but I don't want to tell just yet. And you probably think about someone singing 'Goodnight Demon Slayer', because we all know that Helena's going to grow up to be a badass.

And to everyone else who reviewed, Thank You very much, especially Luna.

One more thing before I start the story, my school is starting to soon, and I won't be able to update as much as I have. I'll still do my best to update as quick as possible, but it might be slightly delayed.

Disclaimer: I do now own DC Nation.

Talia POV

The door to my cell opened, light from the hallway outside streaming into my room, except for the shadow of the person standing in the doorway.

I looked at the ninja, narrowing my eyes at him. He was not holding a tray, like the ninja who Father had ordered to carry breakfast to me, and he didn't have anyone else with him. "What are you here for?" I asked, looking for any weapons he may have hidden. He would not be the first ninja who has tried to kill me in this cell, after all.

"Relax, Mistress, I am not here to kill you for betraying Ra's, like the others." He said, closing the door behind him.

"Then what are you here for?" I asked, my eyes narrowing even more in suspicion.

The ninja bowed in front of me, keeping his head low as he said, "To tell you that there are ninja's here on your side, Mistress." He said, before rising.

I pressed my lips into a thin line, the chains that were attached to my wrists clanging together as I moved my hands to my lap. Many of the ninja in my Father's palace were sworn to follow him and only him. That would mean any few amount of ninja following me now, wouldn't be able to do much without causing suspicion. "How many ninja's are on my side exactly?" I asked.

"Thirty in total, however, many of the ninja here are unsure who to follow in this fight. Some of your ninja's right now are persuading others to join us." He said calmly.

"And how many of the ninja are completely devoted to my Father?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Some of Ra's ninja's are trying to persuade other ninja into fighting with them as well, so real number may be slightly higher than when I counted before, but I counted one hundred ninja's following your father the last time I checked." He said, watching me calmly as my eyes widened slightly. "And I counted thirty minutes ago."

If we were somewhere else, this would not have shocked me. One hundred ninja's was a lot, and my father always had ways to bring other ninja to his side.

But there were six hundred and fifty ninja in this palace, how were so many unsure who to follow? "That is five hundred and twenty ninja who do not who to follow, why are so many unsure?" I asked.

"Different reasons. Some believe that Ra's is spending too much on a boy that never posed a threat in the first place, others think that he will kill White Ghost next for being Albino, even if White Ghost is the best leader they have had in years. They also think you have gone weak, for protecting a son you have never met." He said.

I scowled. "I want you to gather as many of the unsure ninja as you can, and tell them that I am planning war in this palace. If they do not join me, they will die, along with the rest of my father's ninja. Let them see if I have gone weak then." I said, watching as he nodded, his mask wrinkling in a way that showed he was smirking.

"Yes, Mistress." He said, starting to walk out of my cell.

"Oh, and one more thing." I said, the ninja freezing. "I want you to intercept any information going to my father, and then bring it to me, including all information about Timothy Kyle. Without that information on him, my Father will never be able to even make a plan against him."

The ninja nodded again, the light slipping out of the room as he shut the door.

Tim POV

I was curled up in a corner, tears streaking down my face as I sat in a broken room of the Cat's Cradle. The Cat's Cradle was an cat adoption center Selina opened a year after she adopted me, her first real job that didn't involve stealing every cat statue that came into town.

I still remembered the day she brought me here for the first time, the way her face lit up as she walked me in through the doors on opening day.

~Flashback~

"Selina," I asked nervously, "where are we going?"

For the almost year that I had stayed at Selina's, she had always been nice and warm. She calmed me down when I woke up from nightmares, she'd smile at me gently after I had finished coughing up blood, telling me it was okay, and that she wouldn't hurt me like everyone else. Selina gave me my own room, my own home.

But from the moment I woke up, I knew something was off. She was smiling more than usual, her pink, rosy lips spread wide in a bright smile as she hummed while cooking breakfast. And when she said that we were going out, without telling me where, I knew what was coming.

Nobody had ever left me this way before, telling me that we were going to some place I couldn't know about until we got there, before they left me completely. Usually, the couple either told me they were sending me back, or I ran away on my own. But I had heard stories from the very few years I had stayed at the orphanage, the stories hazy and filled with smell of smoke, and rough laughter. I couldn't remember most of them, or what they were all about, but I knew how they all ended. They always ended up getting abandoned.

"It's just up this street, Kitten." She chuckled, squeezing my hand gently as I swallowed the lump in my throat.

When she stopped, I felt my breath quicken, my hand tightening around her hand the best I could. I closed my eyes tightly, knowing what she was about to do. She was going to tell me to piss off, to get out of her sight- "Happy 6th Birthday, Tim!", Selina said, her voice gentle and warm. - She was going to wish me happy birthday?

I opened my eyes, looking at Selina as she smiled, tugging me towards the door of a building. The 'building', wasn't really a building, but an area enclosed by cross wire fence, the roof a long piece of cross wire fence that Selina had stretched over the place. The door we had stopped at was built into the fencing, the words Cat's Cradle glowing in bright red, cursive letters on the glass door, a bell ringing as we walked in. Selina chuckled as my eyes went wide.

"W-what is this place?" I asked, staring at the building in awe.

Everywhere I looked there were green plants, and colorful flowers that almost seemed to glow, each one somehow healthy and strong in the polluted Gotham sunshine that shined through the roof. They looked so full of life, each flower, small tree, shrub, and bush shining with a beauty I had never seen before.

Selina's heels clicked on the cobblestone path beneath us as she tugged me along, cat houses and benches on either side of me as she walked me down the path. Cats meowed and rubbed themselves against my legs, their fur soft and warm on my skin, as the other cats sunbathed on the wooden benches.

"It's a cat adoption center, Tim." Selina said, her eyes glinting. "Your cat adoption center."

I stuttered, "I-I-I… how can this be my cat adoption center?" I asked, my hands tightening around hers. "It's yours, you made it, I didn't even know you had this place till now."

Selina paused, and turned around with me, so that we could see what we had just passed. "Tim, did I ever tell you how I started stealing?" She asked.

I shook my head, looking up at her curiously. "No… I never thought to ask." I said, frowning at the faraway look in her eyes.

"I guess you could say it started with my parents." She said, rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb subconsously. "My mom never really wanted kids, and when she had the two of us, she acted like she barely even saw us. She gave us food, a home, and even shopped for clothes with us, but you could see that she'd rather be with her cats than with me and my sister. My father was a raging alcoholic, always getting drunk, and would do anything for another beer bottle."

"My mother died first, in a suicide attempt. Well, I guess I shouldn't say attempt, she succeeded after all." Selina chuckled ruefully. "And my father died after her, from alcohol poisoning. I left after that, stealing for everything I needed, for everything I wanted. Sure I was put in an orphanage a few times, and others always told me that I could be better, but….. I never thought I could." She said sadly, looking down at me eyes that matched.

"I had lived the life of a street rat for so long, stealing just to get by, that I thought that was all I could ever do. I thought that it was too late, that I could never get a real job, because stealing was all I was ever good for. Until I met you, Tim." She said, smiling down at me as I looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, ever since I found you in that alley, you started making me see that I wasn't just good for stealing. The way you fight to just stand up every morning, even though all you want to do is go back to sleep because you feel so weak, how you fight the crappy hand that life has dealt you… you showed me everything isn't set in stone." She said, ruffling my hair. "And, I see so much of myself in you when I was a kid that it's scary, and I don't want you to grow up thinking that all you ever will be able to do is steal, be a prostitute, and whatever else you did to survive, either."

"You're still really young, so I know you don't quite understand, but… I don't want you to be like me. Of course, we are both thieves, and the urge to steal things that catches our eyes is in our blood. That urge won't ever change or go away, so I'm not asking you to stop stealing every single shiny thing that catches your eye. But I don't want you to be stuck stealing everything, or anything else you did to get money, just because it's all you ever thought you had. I don't want you to think stealing is the only option you'll ever have." She said, nudging my head so that I was looking at the path we had crossed instead of her. "That's why I built this place, Tim. So that not only I could live a life without stealing everything, but so that you would have a place too. I even had some of the things in here brought in just for you."

"What things?" I asked, trying to swallow down the growing lump in the back of my throat.

Selina smiled, looking around at the plants that were planted next to the benches and the cat houses. "I remembered, when I asked you what it was like in Crime Alley, that you said that it was one of the greyest, most plantless places ever. You said that all there was, was people who killed each other, with buildings that blocked out the sun, stopping any chance of a plant growing. So I had a friend of mine bring in these plants, so that when you came here, you never had to think of Crime Alley again." She said. "I want this to be a place for you, Tim, where you don't have to worry about stealing for food, or having flashbacks. This place is for you, Tim, just for you. Well, you and the cats." She said, chuckling.

I brought my head down, my bangs covering my eyes as I cried silently, tears streaming down my face when I couldn't hold them back anymore. "Hey, what's wrong, Tim?" Selina asked worriedly, kneeling in front of me. "Don't you like this place?"

I nodded, my shoulders starting to shake with sobs. "I love it, it's just, that… that…." I broke of in a sob, my body shaking as Selina pulled me towards her, rubbing my back. "I thought you were going to leave me, and I was ready for it, and instead… instead you give me this."

I wrapped my arms around Selina, sobbing into her chest as she froze. "Nobody has ever given me anything this great. I love it."

Selina's arms wrapped around me slowly, her smile spread lips pressing against my forehead as she kissed me. "I'm sorry, I should have realized what you think would happen if I said we were going somewhere without telling you. If I ever do anything like this again, I promise I'll tell you if it's for your birthday, or whatever I'm doing it for." She murmured, pulling my head back so that I could look her in the eyes. She wiped my tears away with her thumb, smiling at me before standing up. "Now lets go, this is only the backyard. I still have an entire building to show you."

Flashback

The Cat's Cradle was supposed to be a place to get away from nightmares. It was supposed to be my place to get away, this place was supposed to be my second home. And now… they had destroyed this place too.

"I was wondering if I would find you here."

I jerked, looking up at the owner of the voice before relaxing. It was Dick, his Nightwing mask on now, a gentle smile on his face. "How did you find me?" I asked, my voice raw and hoarse for crying so much.

He stepped over the wreckage, his shoes stepping on broken glass and pieces of wood until he stopped in front of me. "I figured you would be somewhere ninjas wouldn't expect you to be, and when I couldn't find you at your house, I looked here since it sounded like Selina was attacked at work." He said, pausing before he continued, "Helena told us everything."

I let my head drop to my knees, shaking my head. "Then you know, I just want to be left alone right now."

Dick sighed, sitting next to me. "Tim, you're like another little brother to me, I can't just let you go through this alone. What do you even think you're going to do, now that Helena isn't with you?" He asked.

"I'm going to find Selina, before she ends up dead." I said, still not looking at Dick.

"But, you don't have to look alone." Dick said, "You know what kind of information Batman has, we could look for Selina together, faster than you could if you were alone, and you could still be with Helena."

I shook my head, glaring at Dick. "No, I can't. I don't belong there, it's not mine to go to whenever I'm in trouble. The only reason I knew I could leave Helena with you was because she's his daughter. She should have lived there in the first place." I said.

Dick's eyes softened behind his mask, a small smile curling on his lips. "Tim, don't you remember how we met?"

I closed my eyes, nodding as I remembered that night.

Flashback

I winced as I placed my hand on my opposite wrist gingerly, my arm throbbing in pain as I hid behind a bunch of crates. The drug dealer I had been stealing from, one of the jerks I remembered that used to work for Condon in Crime Alley, had twisted my wrist when he caught me, one of his minions managing to dig his knife into my arm just as I started to escape.

Shouts echoed behind me, their angry voices ringing in my ear. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying since they were on the other side of the docks, their words too muffled, but I knew they were probably still searching for me.

I smirked, holding up the shinies in my uninjured hand. The lighter and cufflinks I took were both silver with initials carved into them, their shiny metal so bright that I saw the metal glitter from on top of a metal shipping container. But these were so much more than just shiny to me, these cufflinks and lighter were important. And the drug dealer knew it.

I looked away from my shinies, wincing at my arm. I moved my hand from my wrist to the gash that was in my forearm, blood pouring out of the wound. It wasn't too deep, the armour of my suit protecting me enough that only the tip of the blade had been able to cut into my arm. But because of my condition, I knew losing even a little blood now could kill me later. Especially if Selina found out I went out on my own.

I pressed my hand against the wound tightly, hissing in the pain that I was only feeling now because the adrenaline no longer pumping in my system. "Hey kid, are you alright?" A voice asked, catching me off guard.

I jerked, staring at the hero in front of me, glaring at him as my hand tightened around the cut. .

Up until now, I had never met the original Robin. The vigilante was always in Bludhaven, and even though I started doing this when I was turned eight, I hadn't started jumping around on roof tops till he was gone. And the way Batman acted every time Catwoman brought him up whenever they thought me or the current Robin wasn't there… I thought he would never come back to Gotham.

Now that I saw him, though, it felt… weird. I always thought he would look more like Batman, dressed in all black with a scowl permanently stuck on his face. But Nightwing looked more like Robin without the cape and a new color scheme, his concern easy to read on his face.

"I'm fine." I said, slipping my shinies into one of my pouches, and stood up shakily.

Nightwing's rolled his eyes behind his mask, walking towards me. "Yeah, that's why you're holding your bleeding arm, right?" He asked, teasing lightly, before frowning worriedly. "You're Stray, right? Do you need help getting back to Catwoman?"

I shook my head, my eyes widening. "No! I'll be fine." I said quickly, taking another step back as Nightwing stopped in front of me.

"Catwoman doesn't know you're out here, does she?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I bit my lip, turning my head away from him. Was it that easy to see?

He sighed, sitting down on the dirty ground, before dragging me down with him. "It's not too deep at least, you won't need stitches." He said after prying my hand off the bloody gash, the blood soaking into my costume.

I blinked at him, Nightwing pulling gauze and disinfectant wipes out of his belt. If this had been anyone else they would have called Catwoman, and she would murder me for coming out here when she told me not to. So, why was Nightwing helping me?

"Do you always help out strangers like this?" I asked, wincing as Nightwing started wiping away blood.

He grinned a little, shaking his head. "Usually, no." He said, "If you were any other kid, I would probably be taking you back to your parents. But… heh, I guess you could say you kind of remind me when I used to pull this kind of stuff." Nightwing said, smiling dazedly like he was looking at an old memory, before his lips twisted into a frown. "What were you doing out here, anyway?"

I grimaced, Nightwing rolling up my sleeve till it was rolled up at my shoulder. "You're a hero, I'm a thief. How do I know you won't take anything I stole tonight?" I asked, watching as he took a wipe and pressed it against my wound.

I hissed, glaring at him. "Sorry, the bleeding wasn't stopping when I did that with your sleeve on," He said, his lips quirking in a little smile, "And I am the guy patching you up shorty, if I really wanted whatever you stole, I could have already taken it."

I glared at him harder, before sighing. I took the cufflinks and lighter out, holding them in my hand as I stared at them fondly. Nightwing paused in what he was doing, blinking at the glittering items in my hand. "That is what you got stabbed for? You got stabbed for cufflinks and a lighter?!" Nightwing asked incredulously. "What made you want to steal these things so badly?"

I shrugged, grinning. "They were shiny." I said, laughing as he faced palmed.

"You have got to be kidding me. You got stabbed in the arm for a lighter and cufflinks, because they're shiny?" Nightwing asked, going back to wrapping up my arm.

I nodded, looking at the initials carved on the metal. I knew if I told Nightwing the power of these two letters carved into this metal gave that drug dealer, he would question how I knew about it, how I knew the man whose initials were carved into lighter and cufflinks.

But… I wasn't even able to tell Selina what she had saved me from three and a half years ago. And I wasn't going to tell Nightwing the first time we met either. Because I knew that if I did, neither of them would want to be anywhere near me.

"Hey, are you alright, Stray?" Nightwing asked, concerned.

I snapped out of my thoughts, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine, just… thinking." I said, looking over at my arm. Nightwing had finished bandaging up the gash, and rolled down my sleeve, white peeking out of the cut in my costume. "Thanks."

Nightwing nodded, standing up with me. "Welcome," He said, ruffling my hair with a grin as I huffed. "You should go home now, shorty. Catwoman's probably going to be back at your place soon."

I huffed, glaring at him as he straightened up so I had to crane my head to see his face. "I am not short, Nightwing, I'm fun sized!" I snapped, Nightwing chuckling as I crossed my arms.

"Sure, whatever you say, kid." Nightwing said, smiling as he handed me something.

My eyes widened, the metal of the small, circle like shining in the moon light. "What's this?" I asked, taking it from his hand quickly.

"A communicator." Nightwing said, smirking as my eyes glinted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should run off without your mentor every night you don't feel like going with her, this is a onetime thing. Next time I find out you're doing something stupid just because something's shiny, I'm sending you back. But… I know it's like jumping on roof tops when you're a kid. So… just call if you need someone to talk to someone or if you need to crash somewhere for a night." He said, before walking away from me.

~Flashback~

I snorted, leaning back against the wall. "You said to crash for a night, Dick. I have no clue how long it will take to find Selina." I said.

Dick cuffed me lightly on the back of my head, shaking his head as I glared at him. "Tim, I didn't mean that I would kick you out the second that night was over." Dick said, frowning at me. "You can stay as long as you need."

I shook my head, leaning my forehead down to touch my propped up knees. "Tell that to Damian."

"Damian will get used to you." Dick said, taking my hand in his and squeezing it gently. "Come on Tim, if you're not going to do this for yourself, do it for Selina. If you're out here trying not to get killed every day, you'll never be able to find her. Besides, I don't think she'd like the idea of you out here by yourself."

I shook my head, tears starting to slip down my cheeks again. "I didn't just leave Helena like that just to come back, Dick." I said, shaking my head. "I can't just go back to the Manor like that."

"We're not all perfect Tim, we make mistakes. But you won't fix this mistake by feeling guilty because of what you thought was right to protect Helena. Just come back to the Manor, Tim." Dick said, standing up suddenly.

I blinked, rubbing the tears out of my eyes, staring at the outstretched hand Dick offered me. "Let's go back, Tim." He said, smiling gently.

My hand hovered above his for a moment before I hesitantly put my hand in his, Dick gently pulling me up. Dick's smile widened as he nodded, turning around so that we could leave what remained of the Cat's Cradle.

I let go of Dick's hand, stuffing my hands in my pockets, and I froze.

My pill bottle that I had shoved into my pocket hurriedly in the apartment was cracked in the middle, a large hole in it, with a matching hole on the outside of my pocket. And from how empty the bottle felt, there weren't many left.

When did this happen? I didn't remember anybody cutting my pocket… except for the ninja that caught me and Helena at Crime Alley.

I grimaced, my hand clenching around the bottle. Mom said that there wouldn't be another shipment of this stuff coming in for a while, and with how light the bottle felt… it wouldn't last me very long.

"Tim, is something wrong?" Dick asked, looking at me worried.

I closed my eyes slowly, shaking my head as I started to walk towards him. "It's nothing, I'm fine." I said, keeping the dread that was building up in my chest, off my face.

I hope you guys liked my chapter. Review!