Luthor looked at the papers with wide eyes. Burning, whipping, electric shocking, no wonder the kid had lost his memory. He was brutally abused. He set the papers on his desk with a sigh "and sexual abuse to complete the torture set, tsk" he frowned.

Torture was important in interrogating, he did believe in that, but when the interrogated one ends up into a victim and loses his memory, that was not going to benefit anything "unless this was a normal case. But we're talking about Nightwing here" he looked at the pictures. A young slim male with black hair and a black mask, and it actually is this same terrified skinny young male. But still, Nightwing is Nightwing. He was still strong and agile and fast. And he could do great if he joined his own military. But such thing after such abuse was not an easy mission. It needed patience and brain. And who else was smart enough to brainwash this young man? He had to do it himself.

"tomorrow morning, I need Nightwing in my office. Alone"

He said to the secretary and she nodded as she watched him leave the office with a grim face.

This week has absolutely been a rough week to the president.

…..

"if you can't find him using computer, why not go ourselves?"

"without an actual clue, it's too risky to go to Gotham Prison. Specially with how things are now with Luthor"

Damian growled "but we're not achieving anything with hacking their surveillance cameras"

"As you can see, he's not in any of the cells" Bruce said pressing a couple of buttons showing some cells "either they are hiding him in a secret cell, or he's imprisoned somewhere else" or dead. But Bruce refused to say that out loud. Damian has been losing his tempers a lot lately and he needed to be patient with him. He saw Clark enter and looked at him, but the other looked down and shook his head

"Another failure of the man with super abilities" Damian scoffed and Batman glared at him before looking back at Clark "they must be keeping him in a place covered with lead. Luthor knows your limits"

"Unfortunately" Clark said then sat on a wooden chair "I feel really bad that I can't do anything about it"

"It's not your fault. You're doing your best to help me even though this is my fight"

"our fight" Clark said smiling "don't forget that he's important to me too"

"I'm going to my room" Damian said angrily tearing off his mask throwing it on the ground

"he really is giving you a hard time, huh?"

"Sometimes, I remember what an obedient boy Dick was. And I thought he was hard to rise" he looked down "I was young at that time. Didn't have the patience to raise a child. But this child has grown up. And when I thought that…. Maybe I can tell him. Maybe we can be a thing… I had to lose him"

"matters like these take time, unfortunately, that is the worst part" Clark stood up and walked to him, looking at the videos of the prisoners, talking, reading, fighting. He sighed. "if Dick had been with them, he'd have made new friends by now. I don't see people getting along there. He must be somewhere else"

"I agree" he looked at Clark "what if he's already dead?"

"I don't believe he is. But-" he looked away "it's an option. I'm sorry"

"we still don't have anything to prove that" Bruce said turning back to his computer "it's weird seeing my being the one positive here. Or perhaps-" he looked at him "you wish for him to be dead?"

Clark's eyes widened "if that was the case, I wouldn't have gone everyday and night searching for him, trying to listen through each and every cry and laugh I hear to know if I was able to hear his. Bruce. I'm worried about him too but-"

"but?"

"no… it's nothing" he walked to the door "if he was actually dead… will you be able to get over that?"

There was silence at first. Bruce wanted to give an honest answer "no. but I will continue to live"

"I see" he said then left. That was a satisfying answer. Because deep inside, as much as it hurt him, he did believe that Luthor killed Dick "if that's the case. I'll make him pay"

….

Although the rags he's been given was old and torn, but they were clean, and he was glad that he was given something to wear after that cold shower they gave him, since pouring icy water over him was called shower anyway.

He silently, and obediently, watched them place the cuffs on his hands and drag him to some office at first where one of those people who tortured him sat. looking around, the office was big with nice decoration. The officer stood and looked at him with stern eyes "you'll follow me up and meet the president. You'll be with him alone. I can't guarantee your life if you're disrespectful to him, do you understand me?"

"yes sir" he said nodding. Not really minding losing his life at this point. But wanting to avoid any abuse or torture as much as he could.

He followed the brigadier general to an elevator and sighed. Apparently, they were imprisoning him in some underground of a large building. Once there were there, his mouth opened when he saw the beautiful working place. If he thought that the officer's office was nice, then this place was marvelous. People looked and dressed nice, the place looked clean. And there was a small flag on every desk. Was that a country flag? "excuse me sir" he whispered to the office worried "when you said the president, you actually meant-"

"keep quiet, and don't speak unless spoken to"

"yes sir" because it was actually a good idea to keep him in the dark. he watched the general speak to a lady and she smiled then looked at him with confused expressions. If he wasn't too tired and in pain, he would have smiled at her. But he just had a strong feeling that he was going to lose conscious any second. He looked at the general confused when she opened the door and the general pushed him

"move it. I'm not coming in with you"

"yes sir" he said then entered hesitantly then looked at the door panicking when she closed it. He looked at the office. Large. Too large. The whole front wall was a glass window viewing the city. The leather chair turned that he couldn't see the one sitting on it. Obviously they were ignoring his presence "umm… excuse me?"

"come closer. Stand exactly in front of the desk" he nodded obediently and walked. Once he was there, he cleared his throat, he was going to say something but decided that he should be patient and avoid any unnecessary abuse.

The chair turned and he could see the man in the suit, bald head, green eyes, fit body. He looked like someone with a confident personality. Really fit to be a president

"are you scared?"

"a little bit sir" he answered

"sit down, Richard"

"Richard?" he looked at him puzzled "that's… my name?"

"that's what the DNA and fingerprints test says. They belong to a young man called Richard Grayson"

"Grayson?" he smiled, now he know his name

"sit down"

Richard nodded and walked to the couch sitting on it. Luthor noticed his body language. As much as he tried to seem confident, his shoulders were raised in nervous way. His thighs and legs pressed to each others as if he wanted to curl to himself. The boy was scared.

"you claim that you lost your memory"

"I did" he answered in a whispered voice. But Luthor heard him

"so you did claim that you lost your memory"

"no, sir-" Dick looked at him with panic "I did lose my memory, I swear. As a president, you can order the medical check results"

It annoyed Luthor that this kid, although scared yet he had the nerves to tell him what he can do. Or somehow what he should do "you come from a terrorist field. I can't trust anything unless I see the whole thing myself."

"but you didn't sir" he said holding one hand with the other tightly "you imprisoned me in this same building. But you claim that you didn't see through the whole ordeal. You could have, sir."

"when you talk to me, you address me as Mr. President. Understand?" Luthor made sure to put on an angry façade, but deep inside, he was very amused at this young man

"yes Mr. President"

Luthor stood and Dick did as well "follow me, terrorist" he said and he couldn't help but frown at the name that he was called. He followed outside silently until they reached the elevator "as long as you don't have your memory, you are useless to us" Dick looked at him with worry as he spoke "but that doesn't mean that you're not able to remember. Or perhaps, faking amnesia"

"Mr. president, you can re-order the medica-"

"and I said I can't trust it." He looked at him "I'll be watching you personally, if you were indeed amnesiac then I'll make use of your talents and make you join my forces"

"a soldier?" he asked, and he was relieved. A better start. If he really was a terrorist, then he must repent.

"yes. Now come" he sighed when he was again in the medical section "I want to make sure he's physically fit to live in with me" he looked at him "as my personal servant"

"I thought I wa-"

"start now" Luthor said cutting off Dick wanting him to understand that he had the upper hand.

He watched as the male nurse unbuttoned Dick's shirt and took it off. As the boy looked down in shame, he could see the abuse marks all over his body. He comprehended the long lashes of the whip marks, the purple bruises that he suspected it was from electrical shocking. The places on his arms and thighs that lacked skin, they must have skinned him. Not to mention the bit marks on his collarbone, chest, above his left nipple and sides and thighs as well. Luthor frowned after the nurse folded all of Dick's clothes and ordered him to lie on the bed before closing the curtains. He heard Dick gasp in fear

"I'm still here" he said feeling a bit of petty toward the young man. He didn't know however saying that should assure him or scare him more. He smiled when he heard the boy whisper to the doctor "we've done this before" the boy didn't feel any need to hold what he thinks no matter whom he was speaking to.

"I'm going to enjoy training him"

…

The night was quiet. But Bruce had to admit, Luthor was actually doing a great job in preventing crime, hadn't he attacked them, he'd have considered him 'a good guy'. But fighting crime was not why he was here tonight. He was here because he had to meet someone important. Someone in any other occasion, he'd be doing his best to get him behind a cell bars.

"enjoying the night I see"

He looked behind him with a frown "Death Stroke" he acknowledged the other "I must thank you for coming"

"Dealing with the Batman is a good deal. And I don't talk about money here. I'm talking about a good mission. And a good fun" he looked at the Batman "but what makes you think that if I found your first robin, I won't be taking him in my care. As my apprentice"

"he can refuse that and deal with it himself. Right now, all I want is to make sure that he's alive, and get him out of Luthor's hands."

"mission accepted. But don't expect me to be filling you with details on my steps. You will have to keep your bat paranoia to yourself" with that, Slade jumped off the building, already planning his next moves.

Batman frowned more as he watched him disappear then sighed "Robin. Why did you follow me?" he asked and the young boy walked to him in confident steps

"you did it. You're cooperating with the enemy to find Grayson"

"sometimes, you have to deal with people you hate, to protect the people you love"

"I'm already doing it, father. I'm having enough pain dealing with Drake."

Batman sighed then turned to him "let's continue patrolling, we have a long night"

"Superman didn't find anything?"

"not yet"

Damian sighed "I think he's too busy dealing with his crush on you. If he paid more attention to what he should do, we would have found Grayson already"

"same goes to you and your crush on Red Robin." Batman said smirking.

"you may be my father. But can still desire to kill you or paralyze you"

Bruce's smirk got bigger.

….

Was intending to make this a longer chapter. But I'm too sick. Perhaps next chapter.