Richard sat on his bed in the empty room. He glanced at the clock next to his bed side. 12:57 am. Richard groaned there was no way he was going to get any sleep tonight especially since he was still worried about his brothers. Slade had, for some reason, made sure that if there were any newspapers with any information about Oath it would be on the table waiting for him in the morning. Sure his brothers seemed to be doing fine, but he still couldn't help but worry. Static and Gear were apparently the first to be recruited because of the latest newspaper he got with Red Arrow introducing them. Richard sighed before getting up and off of his bed.

He slowly made his way across the room until he reached his door and slowly slipped out of it. He made his way down the narrow and almost barren hallway. The walls were a plain black with the occasional picture that Wintergreen had snapped of him and Slade. Wintergreen was an elderly gentleman who reminded him of Alfred. He had, apparently, been serving under Slade for the last ten years because Slade had saved his life. Overall, Wintergreen was a nice man who assisted Slade and him in any way he could. He slowly made his way to the sound proof training room and opened the door and turned the light on. Inside was a large grey room with lots of workout equipment, practice dummies and a lot of weapons. He ignored the bench press and leg press and instead walked over to the acrobatic equipment Slade had installed just for him.

He jumped on the high bar and began swinging. Slade himself was a complete mystery to Richard. He used to think that all Villains were bad, evil and out for world domination. He launched himself into the air and flipped before catching the next bar. Slade had managed to change the way he saw villains and Richard doubted that Slade had any idea he was doing this.

Richard continued to flip around contained in his thoughts unable to notice the figure that silently slipped into the room. Richard flung himself to another bar and caught himself wrong causing him to groan in pain as he felt his muscle strain. Without losing any momentum, Richard launched himself towards the final bar however he overshot it because he sailed right over it and surprisingly instead of falling on the cold floor he was caught by the figure.

"That was pretty good until you overshot yourself because of your distraction on the pain." The figure said as Richard looked up to see Slade.

"Master." Richard muttered obviously surprised. Slade put him on the ground gently and Richard thanked him. "I'm sorry master it won't happen again." Richard said bowing his head. Slade smiled inwardly and placed a hand on Richard's shoulder.

"We all make mistakes, Richard, without them we cannot make progress." Slade said gently causing Richard look up at his master.

"But a single mistake with our type of job could lead to something fatal." Richard input as Slade seemed to think about this for a moment.

"Your right, a single mistake can lead to something fatal." Slade began turning away from Richard.

"See-."

"However, you are not alone." Slade interrupted turning to Richard. "If you make a mistake that would lead to something fatal I wouldn't allow it to happen." Slade continued watching Richard's eyes widen. "And I do not doubt that your brothers would come to your aid if you needed them." Slade finished leading to a few minutes of silence.

Richard face into his arm and struggled to hold in the tears in his eyes. Richard could've seen Bruce saying something similar to this back before he knew the truth. Slade then did what would probably make him the laughing stalk in the villain industry should anyone see it. He slowly embraced Richard and allowed Richard to cry into his chest.

"It's alright Richard. Your father is here and as soon as the lights out of commission so will your brothers." Slade mumbled softly unknowingly giving up a secret. You see Slade had seen how close Richard was to Roy and Wally or Rain and Wade. Anyways, he decided that once he had taken out the Light and gotten his revenge he would allow the two to live with them.

Slade pushed Roy and Wally out of his mind for the time being, instead, thinking of his newest target. Batman was going to pay. Batman had broken his bird and though Wally and Roy had managed to put him back together, there was a possibility he would never heal. Richard cried into Slade's arms feeling safe for some strange reason. Two years ago he wouldn't even look at the man let alone hug him or trust him. For some odd reason Richard felt himself changing and not in a bad way, no, not at all. Slade was also changing, though he would never admit it even if he somehow managed to notice it. He was becoming softer. Richard soon fell asleep and Slade moved him to his bed...

An hour later, Richard stood atop a mysterious building.

"Huh that's weird I don't remember climbing any buildings, unless I did it while I was asleep." He stated out loud looking down at his clothing. It was different then he had fallen asleep in. He was wearing a black hoodie and a pair of black tights. "Ok maybe I just changed myself while asleep?" He asked not believing what he had just said.

"Doubtful, we're talented but not that talented." A voice said from behind him. It was definitely higher then Richards but it sounded all so familiar. Richard looked around the barren rooftop that was surrounded with darkness.

"Give the kid a break I mean sure, he's smart, but anyone would be confused at the situation he was placed in." Another voice said gruffly. Again it sounded familiar but he couldn't place his finger on either of his voices.

"Ahhh come on guys, lighten up I'm sure he's at least brighter than Joker. I mean, when will Joker learn you can't make Batman laugh? I mean I tried for years and never succeeded." A third voice inputted which was the most familiar. It was just a little higher than his own again, but not as high as the first voice.

"Show yourselves!" Richard cried out as he heard the three voices versions of cackling blending in with each other.

He continued to look around until a figure stepped out from the shadows to his right.

"Easy, Richard." The figure stated as Richard turned to him.

"How do you know my name?" He asked as two more figures began to appear by his sides. One was about as tall as his waist. The other one was just a foot shorter than him and the figure in front of him was as tall as he was. "How do you know who I am?!" Richard growled, glancing at all the figures who began to become clearer.

"Because we are you." The figure in front of him said becoming as clear as possible. The figure in front of him was an exact replica of him in his Nightwing outfit. The figure to the left of him was an exact replica of him in his former Robin outfit. The final figure was him when he had just lost his parents dressed in the same tights. Richard stumbled back slightly upon seeing them.

Wow cliff hanger, bet you guys weren't expecting this huh? Well, I figured everyone thought Slade as no more than a mercenary but I'm showing the softer side of him. Please don't tell him I said that he will gut me and hang me on his wall. Also this cliff hanger will have a big impact on this arc, basically meaning this will make or break Richard as he is. Also these next few chapters will answer some long awaited questions. Will Slade replace Bruce as Richard's mentor? What was said in the letter Artemis was given? And why does Slade want to take down the light? What did they do to him to make him dedicate his villain career to stopping them? Well, find out next time on Oath.