A/N: Chapter 4 is here! Thanks to all of my beloved readers/reviewers/followers/people who favorited for their support. It makes me want to update faster! This chapter's a big one, it sets the stage for the rest of the story. There's about six chapters left, I'm shooting for 10 in total.

I own nothin' :(

Review Responses (remember, I only review 4 per chapter and I'm going to try not to respond to the same people each chapter):

YellowTigger: As is custom, thanks for reviewing! You didn't have to wait very long either, I edited much faster (if not sloppier)!

WolfTail Run: Thank you so much for the compliment! Jason is a hard guy to write and I'm glad my efforts are successful with him. Thanks for liking my story and for the review!

Karin Matthews: Was this update quick enough? I thought it was pretty fast. ^^ Thanks for the review.

guest: Thanks for finding my story amazing. It really does make me smile to hear...er...read that. Merci (because thanks is becoming overrated) for reviewing!

Ch. 4-Deceits

"There comes a time when deceit and defiance must be seen for what they are. At that point, a gathering danger must be directly confronted. At that point, we must show that beyond our resolutions is actual resolve".
―Dick Cheney

Deciding to off one's self isn't an easy choice to make. Especially if said offing is fake. It's even harder if one is trying to fool not only the police, but the Justice League as well. Why is it so hard? Well, the Justice League happens to have a man with the title of World's Greatest Detective with them. It definitely isn't easy to fool that man. And this is the challenge that one Richard John Grayson was currently facing.

If he'd of had it his way, Dick wouldn't even fake his death. He liked being a Grayson. His name was one of the last things he had of his parents. He didn't want to lose it. Unfortunately, time wasn't on his side. The more time he wasted coming up with another plan, the closer he came to being found. Being found was not an option. As it stood, just gathering the supplies he needed for his pseudo death was costly enough time wise.

In fact, just the other day, Dick had to hide behind a dumpster to avoid being seen by Kaldur. He'd only been one block from his apartment too. They were definitely closing in. On top of all that, he had Jason breathing down his neck to hurry up. The older boy's meeting was one day away, meaning that Dick had to fake his death that very night.

Which led to Dick standing on a bridge. Alone. At night. In Blüdhaven. His genius level IQ was definitely showing. Luckily for him, Red Arrow decided just then to join him on the bridge. Things could've gotten bad fast if it'd been a stranger. Strangers at night in Blüdhaven weren't typically very friendly people.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Roy asked, putting a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Jason had eagerly told the archer about Dick's plan earlier that day. The red-head had wasted no time heading over to Blüdhaven himself to assist/comfort the boy he viewed as his younger brother.

"Bruce won't give up looking for me until he's positive that I'm dead," Dick said sadly.

"So you're killing Dick Grayson?"

"Yep. Jay is setting it all up. He volunteered to do it even, just to make sure I didn't screw anything up."

"He's enjoying this way too much."

Dick smirked, "This is his way of messing with Bruce."

"He still has daddy issues after all of these years?" Roy asked playfully.

Alas, just as the archer said that, Red Hood popped out of nowhere, like the Bats usually do. "Watch your mouth Harper!" he snapped, "Or else you won't have one to watch." To prove his point, Jason pulled out a handgun and casually waved it in front of Roy's face. The threat was evident.

Dick scowled at his brother, "Put that away, you know I don't like guns. Especially while I'm in my civvies…Why do you even have that with you?" he asked.

"Never know when you're gonna have to cap someone's ass. We're in Blüdhaven after all," Jason said with an evil grin. He put the gun back into his jacket pocket anyway.

"Did you do it?"

"Place the evidence? Duh, I've always wanted to kill you…Although this isn't how I pictured doing it."

"…You're joking, right?"

"You sure you wanna find out?"

"No…Not really."

"Jay," Roy said as he slapped the back of Jason's head, "Be nice to him. Tomorrow he won't be Dick anymore."

"Something that he should be real thankful for," Jason muttered rubbing the back of his head. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to Roy's friendly head-slap. Nobody had ever done it to him before…Good God, was he fitting in? Was he getting comfortable? That thought put the Red Hood on edge. Last time he got comfortable, he got killed. Jason filed that topic under something to worry about later.

"Like Chester is a much better name? That name is just begging for a disaster." Roy argued.

"I didn't pick it!"

"You didn't stop him from picking it either. Honestly, did you expect him of all people to want a normal name?"

Dick tuned out as the older boys bickered, opting instead to stare at the water. It was official then. Jason had placed their false yet realistic evidence, and tomorrow the whole world will know of his death. The last of the Flying Graysons was no more, in his place stood Chester Honeywell…No. He wouldn't give up his name completely. He refused. His parents gave it to him, after all. The public would know him as Chester, but those close to him now, like Jason and Roy, would know who he really is. They'd refer to him as such in private too; he'd make sure of it. A smile graced Dick's features as he came to that conclusion. Dick Grayson may be dead to the world, but he wasn't dead completely.

Looking up from the murky water, Dick noticed a silhouette standing on top of a nearby building. The figure looked muscular and appeared to be wearing…armor? And was he (Dick was positive it was a guy) staring at the three boys on the bridge?

"…It's not a toy! It's a miniature piece of art!" Roy was shouting when Dick turned his attention back to his two makeshift older brothers.

"Hey, is that guy looking at us?" the fourteen year old butted in as he pointed towards a now bare building's roof.

"What guy?" Roy asked squinting to see if he could find the mysterious man Dick was talking about. Jason appeared to be doing the same thing.

"I swear there was a guy there," Dick said defensively, "He had armor, and muscles, and he was just standing there!"

"…I think it's time you went home; you've had a stressful day."

"But-"

"Don't wanna hear it Grayson," Jason interrupted, "Now, let's listen to Speedy and get going."

"Red Arrow," Roy argued as he and Jason started to leave the bridge, probably to continue their previous argument.

"I swear he was there…" Dick mumbled. He took one last look back at the building he'd seen the man on.

Nobody was there.

With a shrug, Dick followed his "brothers" off of the bridge. Maybe he was just imagining things… Then again, when it comes to mysterious figures, it never really is that simple.

Ward of Billionaire Pronounced Dead

The headline of the paper caught Barbara Gordon's attention. She'd been working with Young Justice for days trying to find Dick. They'd just decided the previous evening to take a day off of searching. What difference would a day make to a boy who'd already been missing for a week?

Seeing the headline, however, Barbara couldn't even begin to hide her apprehension. One day off and now Dick was dead? That wasn't possible. She refused to believe it. Besides, there were plenty of other billionaires with wards. It wasn't necessarily Dick who'd been pronounced dead. Barbara bought the paper anyway.

Sprinting to her house, Barbara slammed the front door behind her and rushed into her room, locking herself in. She didn't want to chance her father seeing her in case it was Dick, which it wasn't. Her father did not need to see her breaking down over her best friend…who wasn't pronounced dead…the lock was just a precautionary measure to quell her bat paranoia. That's all it was, because Dick was not dead. He just couldn't die.

Taking in a shaky breath, Barbara finally looked at the newspaper she bought. The picture under the headline showed a crime scene by a river. There was caution tape weaving through trees and cops balancing on the steep, rocky incline that led to the water. One of the cops in the background appeared to be holding a piece of cloth, while another one was bagging some form of evidence.

When she was done examining the photo, Barbara decided to finally read the article. Or, at least skim it. The pieces of the article she did manage to comprehend felt like bullets being sent to her heart.

"Late last night, a gruesome scene was discovered on the banks of…"

"Blood was found and sent to forensics…"

"…scraps of clothing…"

"…the Blüdhaven PD are currently unsure if it was murder, suicide, or just a tragic accident…"

"…identity was confirmed to be that of the missing Richard Grayson, ward of Gotham's billionaire Bruce Wayne…"

"…only fourteen…"

Barbara continued to skim the article, as if on autopilot. She kept reading until the words started to blur, that's when she finally noticed that she'd been crying. Oh God, Bruce! She thought. If she was taking Dick's death hard, Bruce must be devastated. Dick had been his whole world, and now he'd been taken away. Just like the man's parents had been all those year prior. To make matters worse, the last time the makeshift father and son had spoken, they'd been fighting.

Mustering up all of her energy, which seemed to have depleted dramatically since the discovery of Dick's death, Barbara unlocked her door and headed for Wayne Manor. She needed to grieve with someone who was just as emotionally ripped to shreds as she was over the incident, even if said person had a habit of looking stoic all the time. At least she knew Bruce would be hurting, and Alfred would probably cry with her. That's what she needed right now anyway. Misery does love company after all.

Wally felt like someone was squeezing his guts as he watched the news. Dick was dead…again. Just when he felt like he'd be able to see his best bud again, alive and well, they find his blood all over the place by a river. It was determined that at some point Dick had been walking on top of the wall that surrounded the edge of the river when he'd either slipped, jumped, or been pushed down the rocky slope that led to the water. The detectives had said the fall hadn't killed him, but it probably knocked him out so that he was unable to swim to safety.

He'd drowned. Alone.

Wally couldn't help but feel like he'd failed his friend somehow. Dick had been acting a bit weird before Robin had died, and Wally, as the awful best friend he was, hadn't done a thing. He sickened himself. Now both Robin and Dick were dead to the world. It didn't matter anymore that his friend hadn't died when originally presumed. Dead was still dead.

And both halves of his friend were dead.

And he hadn't been able to save either half. Some hero he turned out to be. Maybe if he'd paid more attention to the little bird, he'd still be alive. Maybe if he'd just called once. Maybe if he'd found out Robin's death had been faked. Maybe, maybe, maybe… Maybes meant nothing, they didn't change the past. The past didn't really matter now anyway, what mattered was the present. And starting from the present, Wally was going to be a better hero. He made a vow silently to himself saying so. If he'd have been a better hero earlier, he could've saved the boy who'd been destined for greatness.

Briefly, the thought of visiting Bruce Wayne to express his condolences crossed Wally's mind, but he decided against it. The man probably wanted to grieve alone. Or with people he was closer to. Wally just knew that his presence was probably not the presence that Bruce would appreciate at a time like this.

Instead, Wally just sat in front of the television, having his guts squeezed continuously, as the death of Richard John Grayson was brought up again.

"Did you hear that Wayne's kid died?" Artemis heard someone say to their comrade as she walked through the streets of Gotham, heading towards her apartment.

"Yep, it's all over the news," the other person said, "Such a shame really, lost his family then drowned a few years later. Apparently Death don't take it too kindly when someone gets away. And Wayne? He lost his parents too, don't know if he really liked the kid, but he's probably still upset by the whole thing. 'Specially since I heard from someone thievin' nearby that they'd gotten into a fight the night the kid disappeared."

"Least Wayne tried to find the kid; I heard he bought himself a team of detectives, even a few capes as well."

"With the amount of cash that guy has, he probably bought himself half of the League. Look at all the good that did him though. The boy probably died the night he left."

Artemis frowned, the little freshman was dead? The one the team had failed to find? Well, since he'd kicked the bucket, no wonder they couldn't find him. It was still relatively depressing. The kid had looked like a happy guy, strange, eccentric, a bit wimpy, and geeky as well, but he honestly looked content despite the things he'd gone through. He had a bright future in front of him too, he was a little genius. Now he couldn't do any of the things that he'd been expected to. He couldn't take over Wayne's business, he couldn't win that mathlete competition thing again, heck, he couldn't even go to prom.

His life was just over, done, finished. All because of a stupid fight, if what those two Gothamites had said was true. The kid's death tugged at her heart strings. He was just an innocent civilian. Civilians weren't supposed to die like that! That's why there were heroes. Heroes were the ones who were meant to die in the stead of the civilians, that's why they did what they did. Upon coming to that conclusion, Artemis was suddenly reminded of Robin.

Just like the Wayne kid, Robin was a genius. He'd been expected to take over the team when he was older, maybe one day the League. He was mischievous, calm, and he was always there to remind her that a hero didn't need superpowers to be special. She didn't mourn the Boy Wonder like her teammates had, crying was weak. Except, now that she finally came to terms with all that was really lost with the Boy Wonder, she couldn't help but let a few stray tears fall.

By the time she reached her apartment, Artemis was close to full out bawling. The sight of her mother, hearing her ask if everything was alright, finally pushed the archer over the edge. Over a week after the death of Robin, Artemis finally cried for him. She ran towards her mother and enveloped her in a hug, the woman stroking her hair and saying everything would turn out okay in the end. Moments like these reminded Artemis why she loved her mother so much.

When her tears started to fall less generously, Artemis recomposed herself. She had to be strong after all. Just like Robin had always been, even though he was so young. Then she remembered the freshman again, he was young too. The difference was that he'd still been innocent.

"I guess we won't laugh about it someday…"

"Hey Jay?" Dick asked the older boy, who was in uniform and preparing to leave. His precious meeting was starting soon and the Red Hood had to attend, like, absolutely had to. The fact that he was still in the apartment was bad, this was one time when he could not be fashionably late…A little late sure, but not fashionably like usual.

"What punk!? Can't you see I've got a schedule to keep?" the impatient anti-hero growled.

"Well, I was just wondering if while you're gone…" the boy trailed off unsure how exactly to word his question without ticking off his brother.

"What do you want to do while I'm gone?" Red Hood pinched the bridge of his nose. He really didn't have time for this.

"Can - I-go-to-the-city-while-you're-gone-so-that-when-I'm-ready-to-go-at-it-alone-I'll-know-my-way-around?" Dick rushed out his question in one breath at a rather impressive speed. Luckily he didn't have super speed, so it was still understandable.

And what Jason understood was that Dick was asking if he, a young boy, could go out into a city like Blüdhaven alone. Jason understood where the kid was coming from, but…

"Fuck no!"

"Wha-why not!?"

"I said so." He was not saying no because it was dangerous. He was not saying no because he wanted to protect his "brother" from the truth of the corrupted city for a bit longer. He was not saying no because Dick wasn't ready to really see Blüdhaven just yet. He was most definitely not looking out for the little termite rooming with him, that's for sure.

Defiantly crossing his arms, Dick petulantly stated, "Well, you're not the boss of me."

"You're the one who asked permission. And, last time I checked, Devon Honeywell was the legal guardian of Chester Honeywell after rescuing his poor little brother from their abusive parents in a fierce custody battle which resulted in the arresting of their father," Red Hood pointed out, reciting their IDs' made up back-story.

"Ugh, you're just like everyone else!" the moody fourteen year old shouted before running off to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Jason stood in the kitchen, where the argument had taken place, for a few moments in confusion. What crawled up Dick's ass? All he did was say no to the kid. Obviously someone had been spoiled under the care of Brucie. Dick's ire was obviously not even remotely caused by the involvement of Red Hood. At least, that's what Jason told himself as he walked towards the window and opened it. As he grappled away, Jason was completely unaware of Dick's scheming.

See, if Dick couldn't get permission to leave, or a valid reason to stay, he was going to follow his gut and check out Blüdhaven.

No matter what his brother said.

A twelve year old boy looked out his window at his neighbor's much larger mansion. Or what he could see of it through the trees. Robin was dead, his civilian ID was dead, and now there would be no more Dynamic Duo. Gotham needed its two heroes, two being the keyword. The Solitary Single had a habit of being much darker. Gotham didn't need its savior to go back to the dark place he'd been in before, and Gotham definitely didn't need or want Batman to go back to that super dark place that he'd been in for a short span of time when Robin would've been eleven. The boy knew, unlike most of Gotham, why exactly that particular dark turn happened, and he didn't want to think about it.

The twelve year old boy knew things. He had way too much free time, so spying on his ex-acrobat neighbor was his source of entertainment. The boy admired the Flying Graysons more than most people, which was saying a lot when it came to that mind-blowing act. He especially idolized the youngest one, who by chance, came to be his next door neighbor. When that day came, the boy had been thrilled. He had so many questions to ask! Unfortunately for Dick, he'd asked every single one at the first charity ball they'd both been at.

Then Robin had appeared. The boy admired the sidekick almost as much as he marveled the last Flying Grayson. The more time that passed, however, the more alarms went off in the boy's head. He kept noticing things; he didn't have much else to do after all. One thing he constantly noticed was that his two heroes were very similar. The pieces finally all fit together when the boy was eleven. That's when he officially realized that Dick was Robin and Bruce was Batman. He was living next door to the Dynamic Duo! To say he was excited would be an understatement.

The discovery did leave him with a slight problem though. How does one tell the Batman that they know who he is? You know, without getting maimed…

So, the boy never told his neighbors he knew their secret. He wasn't scared per say, just incapable of finding out the proper way of revealing his knowledge. Now that there wasn't a Robin anymore, now that his idol was dead, the boy was faced with a moral dilemma. Should he ignore it and hope Batman doesn't take a downwards spiral, or should he reveal what he knows in the hopes of preventing a disaster?

He knew the answer before he even asked it.

A/N: Whoever could that twelve year old be? Go ahead, guess. I made it rather obvious...Of course, it's not really supposed to be a mystery.

As I mentioned, this story has a lot of firsts for me. For example, the boy. I've never typed him before, nor have I ever considered doing so until this idea popped into my head. So, if I'm doing him completely off (honestly, you should all know who the boy is) please feel free to tell me how to improve.

Yeah, no reaction from Bruce on Dick's death... Next chapter will have him though!

That sums it up. Reviews are highly encouraged, but not required. Till next time!