Robin wasn't sure why Batman brought him into the Mountain, and his confusion only grew when he saw Aqualad and Red Arrow patiently waiting for them in a separate room. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on when his gaze met Roy's, and his mouth snapped shut. The archer barely acknowledged him, but that wasn't what caught his attention, it was the familiar buzz coming from his head that made him stare.

It was then that Robin realized that he forgot to bring that up with Batman. Hopefully, it wasn't important information.

"Computer, secure the room," his mentor ordered without any prior greeting to the gathered boys.

"Secured."

"I'll cut to it," Batman said, standing tall. "Do we believe there's a mole within the Team?"

Robin's eyes widened. Batman invited him to discuss something that could potentially involve him? If the League was seriously worried about a mole, Dick would have been high on the list of suspects, and should have been kept in the dark.

"I am convinced there is none," Aqualad said calmly, unaware of Robin's inner turmoil. "When Sportsmaster claimed he had an inside source, he was merely sowing dissent. His intel could easily have come by comparing notes with the other villains working for the so called Injustice League."

Robin slowly nodded in acknowledgment, pushing his earlier thoughts to the side. There must have been a reason Batman brought him there, and he would trust his mentor's decision, at least for now. And if Batman wanted him to join in on the mole discussion, he would.

Thinking about Aqualad's words, he realized how much sense he made. There was no clear proof that Sportsmaster was telling the truth when he claimed there was a mole in the Team. How could they trust the word of the enemy? But then again, even the most malicious villains spoke the truth sometimes. Until they had proof, or had enough data to deduce the truth, they would never know.

"I'm not convinced," Roy argued. Robin rolled his eyes; of course Roy would say that. "Sure, you two and Kid Flash are above suspicion," Wait, what? Roy thought there was a mole, but he didn't believe he was a potential suspect? Robin didn't know whether he should be offended or not. Was that Red Arrow's way of insulting him, by saying that he wasn't capable of being a spy for? Or was Robin reading into it too much? "But I know for a fact Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's not Green Arrow's niece."

Kaldur stood straighter. "What?"

They still didn't know about her relations, even now? Robin thought that the Team's mentors would have revealed that the moment Sportsmaster and Cheshire started to pose a threat. "Well, yeah. In fact, she's related to-"

"Enough," Batman interrupted, and Robin shut his mouth. "Artemis's relations may indeed make her suspect, but she's still entitled to a secret identity." In other words, the League was keeping her identity a secret, probably to avoid discrimination. Smart... "I'm more concerned about Superboy. We still know very little about what Cadmus programmed into their weapon. Connor could be the mole and not know it."

... It was official, Batman lost all sense of logic.

"I am not so sure we should jump to such conclusions with Connor." Kaldur glanced at Robin. "Superboy was not the only project found in Cadmus, and not the only one who could have programming used against us." Finally, someone said it.

Red Arrow glared at the Atlantian in response. "Yeah, but Robin wasn't created for the sole purpose of becoming a weapon."

What the hell? Roy never seemed to like Robin at all before now, and now all of a sudden, he was defending him? He expected something like that from Batman, maybe, but definitely not Archer Boy.

"Yes, but he was also being trained to become an assassin. Who is to say there isn't-"

"I think the world's greatest detective would have noticed if his protege had any programming, especially if they've been living under the same roof this long. Robin is not the mole," he said firmly, a deep frown forming on his face, as though he confused himself with his defensiveness towards the acrobat. Eventually, his expression cleared, and he moved on to another point, "Miss Martian on the other hand... She is Manhunter's niece, but he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews. And the first time he met M'gann was five months ago, when she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth. How much about Miss Martian do we really know?"

Kaldur met his gaze with a challenging stare. "This changes nothing. I have fought side by side with these people; none are traitors."

Robin rose his eyebrows. "Really, now you say that? You were quick to say I was a traitor earlier." He rested his head against his fist, arm propped up on the armrest. "Oh, and don't forget about the day the androids attacked us. While Artemis and I were trying to figure out what happened, we found security footage of you questioning our loyalties."

Batman narrowed his eyes at the Team leader, as this was apparently new information to him.

Kaldur sighed and pinched his nose. "I apologize, I was under large amounts of stress when I accused you and Artemis of being moles. The idea of a traitor on this Team made me wary, and as a result I had to make sure there wasn't any questionable activity among us."

"And what about a minute ago? What's your excuse for that?" Roy asked in an accusing tone.

A grimace. "I must apologize for that as well. I did not mean to sound like I do not trust you, Robin. I know you work hard as second command of the Team, and you would not betray us of your own will. I was only trying to make a comparison between you and Superboy in hopes of clearing away all doubts towards Connor. As I had said before, it is my strong belief that the Team has no spies."

After a few seconds of silence, Robin nodded in acceptance. "Well actually, now that I'm thinking about it again, you do have every reason to suspect I'm the mole. You know nothing about me, my identity or my past, so I would actually be surprised if I wasn't suspect. Even I'm suspicious of myself!"

"There is no mole," Aqualad said forcefully. "That means you as well, Robin."

"There could be!" Robin argued, pushing himself off of his chair. "The probability of having a traitor amongst us is high, what with all of our sketchy backgrounds. I understand why you don't want to believe there's a mole, trust me, I do, but to ignore the potential threat we pose just because you don't want to believe it exists would be a stupid mistake. It could even be a deadly mistake."

"But to point accusing fingers without any evidence would start a civil war among us!" Aqualad argued.

"Robin is right," Roy said, coming to stand next to the acrobat. "Except that he isn't the mole, of course. Green Arrow let it slip that Batman had Manhunter mentally check Robin over several times, even when he was completely unaware of it, just to make sure there was no ill intent anywhere in his brain. Robin is not on my list of suspects."

The presence next to him made him apprehensive, for some reason. The buzzing noise only became louder the closer he came, and Robin winced from the headache it was giving him. Did Roy have some high tech ear piece that was messing with his chip? Did he have an arrow with the ability to mess with hacking devices? Robin focused on the buzzing, but found that any time he tried to pinpoint its exact location, the buzzing would stop until he gave it up. What in the world...

And why was Roy so defensive about him being the mole? And what was that he just said?

"Wait a second." Robin spun around to face Batman, eyes narrowed. "You had Manhunter scan me without telling me?"

His mentor's face remained stoic. "You and I were both apprehensive of the possibility of your chip possessing harmful programming, and since you were able to do things neither of us could explain, I had Manhunter check you over while you weren't paying attention. If you had abilities that shut themselves off whenever you were aware of your brain being scanned, then we would have to do it without your knowledge. Your tests came up negative for programming yet again."

Robin grit his teeth. "And you didn't bother telling me that I didn't have any programming? You know that's been on my mind for months! Why would you keep that a secret, of all things?"

The lenses of the cowl narrowed.

"Able to do things you couldn't understand...?" Kaldur repeated, looking between the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. "What was meant by that? Is Robin able to do things we haven't been informed about?"

"...Robin has abilities that he isn't allowed to use in the field, not until he can fully control them." He ignored the fierce glare that was sent towards him. "You don't need to worry about what it is he can do."

Robin growled. "Batman, I-"

Roy put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, we're not assuming that this ability makes you the mole, right Kaldur?" The Atlantian nodded stiffly, and Red squeezed his shoulder. "Relax."

"... Relax," Robin repeated, mystified. Yes... that was what he needed to do. The blood thirsty rage drained from him completely, replaced by pure exhaustion. "Sorry for getting so worked up," he muttered, blinking rapidly. His emotions were out of control lately, and he honestly expected to snap much earlier than this. The failsafe mission from a few days ago was still fresh on his mind, making him highly irritable, but that didn't give him a right to take everything out on those surrounding him.

"We understand, Robin. It has been a most trying month for us all," Aqualad said with a small smile.

Roy hummed in agreement. "Anyways, let's continue our discussion. I think we can agree that even if there isn't a mole, which there probably is, we should at least take certain precautions to ensure that we won't be betrayed in the future."

Robin nodded absently, not noticing the piercing eyes of his mentor that bore into the back of his head.

xXx

Hours after the meeting in the Mountain, Bruce tapped away at his keyboard, a look of extreme concentration on his face. He knew that brining Roy and Dick into the same room without outside distractions would help his investigation of the mole. He had no idea how he knew this, exactly, but he was glad that he acted on his hunch.

Roy did something to Dick that automatically made the boy calm down, and Bruce wanted to know why, and how.

Dick had been on an emotional roller coaster all week, going from content to snarling in the timespan of a few seconds. Bruce was used to these changes in emotions, and could usually tell when the teen was going to snap, so he knew for a fact that Dick was about to lash out and cause some chaos inside the Mountain, just as Roy put a hand on his shoulder.

"The chances of that chip being connected to the part of his brain that controls emotions is close to one hundred percent, if his past breakdowns are anything to go by. A strong electrical current has the potential to temporarily stop the signals the chip has to the brain, but unless Roy developed the ability to manipulate the flow of shock currents..." he paused. "Wait. Instead of an electric current, it might be possible to alter Dick's chip using radio waves, like two cellphones sending and receiving messages. When Roy put a hand on Dick's shoulder, it was possible that there was a connection being made, and Roy sent Dick the command of calming down."

Bruce frowned and forwarded this information to Lucius, who knew more about this subject than he did. Within minutes, he had a text on his phone reading, 'Need another cellphone for something like that, Mr. Wayne. Do you have a pair of phones, or just one?'

A pair...

His eyes widened. "A pair of chips! Roy must have a chip similar to Dick's!"

But the question was why? Why did Roy have something like that, when he supposedly had no connection to Cadmus or the Injustice League? Did this make him the mole? Well, even if Roy became a spy, that didn't explain why he would have a computer chip surgically installed into his brain. He could have been an excellent spy without it. Perhaps the chip was forced upon him? That didn't make much sense either. Surely, Roy would have brought it up at some point.

But when could Roy have had the chance to have that chip installed? He would've had to have been gone for a long period of time for such a surgery to be performed at all. Frowning to himself, Bruce pulled on his cowl and called the Watchtower. "Batcave to Watchtower. Requesting an audience with Green Arrow."

The requested hero appeared on screen. "Green Arrow to Batman. What's up?"

What's up? What kind of hero says 'what's up?' The informality irked him, and his dislike towards Arrow didn't help. However, he ignored it, putting is current mission before his agitation. "I have a question in regards to your former protege. Was there ever a time where Roy was kidnapped, and was missing for more than a couple of weeks?"

The archer snorted. "And here I thought you were finally trying to make friends, and ask me how my day has been. It's been horrible, thanks for not asking." He chuckled nervously as he was met with a batglare. "Okay, I get it, no joking around. You probably get enough of that with that clown over there, huh? Well, back to business! Let's see..." he furrowed his eyebrows. "Well when he was still just starting the hero gig, he was kidnapped. I looked for him for three whole months before I finally found him. Poor kid barely remembered what they did to him." He paused. "Why is this important?"

Batman ignored the question. "Did he act differently after the incident?"

A blink. "Yeah, now that you mention it, his teenage rebellion stage started just after I got him back. Temper tantrums, defiance, no appreciation for my jokes..." he rose his eyebrows. "What, are you hoping for some parenting advice?"

"... If I wanted parenting advice, it would not be from you." Without another word, he ended the call, and immediately slipped his cowl back off.

He sat back against his chair, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. There was something wrong with Roy Harper, and Bruce wouldn't rest until he figured out what it was. If that man so much as acted violently towards any of the Team, especially Robin, he would be faced with the full force of the wrath of Batman. And that was a promise. All that left was to determine what exactly Roy was, and what he was doing. A mole, or just a coincidence? Bruce would find out.

"Bruce!" Dick suddenly threw the door open to the Bat Cave, and appeared in front of him with wide eyes. "Quick, we need to go to the store, before it's too late!"

...Well then.

Bruce blinked rapidly, changing from hero mode to parent mode in a split second. "Too late for what? What in the world are you talking about?"

Dick huffed and pulled out his cellphone, waving it in front of his face. Bruce barely caught sight of a text message before the device was hastily put back into the teen's front pocket. "Commissioner Gordon is making Barbara go trick-or-treating with him this year, and she asked if I could go with her so that she wouldn't be bored, and I said yes, but I have no idea what to do, and Gordon wants you to come if I go with, and Barbara told me we should match costumes, but-"

"Slow down, Dick." Bruce said with a light chuckle. The teen took in a deep breath and was about to speak again, but Bruce held up a hand to silence him. "Okay, so you need to go to the store and get a costume, right? Is that what you're so worked up about?"

"Well, yeah..." his face turned red. "But, um, I also have no idea what trick-or-treating is. I heard a couple of classmates talking about it, but I ignored it because I figured it had nothing to do with me. Is it some sort of party? I've never been to a party! What the hell do you even do at a party anyways? What if Barbara laughs at me because I have no idea what's going on? What if she doesn't want to be my friend?" He frowned. "Barbara is my only civilian friend, I don't want her to think I'm an idiot!"

... Where did these thoughts even come from? Why did Dick automatically come to the worst conclusions? That was a habit that definitely needed to be broken. "Relax, it isn't a party. It's when you dress up in a costume and go to random houses and ask for candy. It's that simple."

"But isn't it a rule to not take candy from strangers? And why do we dress up in costumes? That's so weird... I don't understand half of the things civilians do..."

The distantly sad look on Dick's face urged him to stand, and he put a hand on his shoulder to steer him towards the exit. "You'll have a decent understanding once you experience it yourself. As for the candy, you are not to eat a single piece of it until I've thoroughly checked it over, okay? Even though this is a child friendly holiday, there are still people who will try to harm others by doing something to their candy."

"... Okay." He bit his lip. "But, um, we better hurry. I have a feeling most of the good costumes are gone."

"I'll drive us, so then we won't have to wait for Alfred. Is that fine?" Dick nodded, and he smiled. "Good, then let's go. What is it that Barbara is dressing up as?" He imagined something like a princess, maybe even a police officer, something Gordon would approve of.

Dick averted his eyes, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Well, you see... she wanted to dress up as her hero, but he was a man, and so she created a female version of him." He laughed nervously, and Bruce had a feeling he knew where this was going. It certainly made sense, what with Jim's views on the hero of Gotham. Dick caught sight of his dawned look, and nodded almost grimly. "Yeah, she kinda looks up to you, but she didn't want to dress up like a guy. She made her own costume, and is calling herself 'Batwoman.' Honestly, Batgirl would sound a lot better, in my opinion..." he grimaced. "But since Batman is a popular character, we better hurry to the store so that we can match. I have a bad feeling there isn't going to be anything left, and Barb's gonna kill me."

"...You want to be Batman for Halloween."

"...Yeah." Dick looked up at him hesitantly. "Problem?"

Bruce smiled and ruffled his hair, earning himself a look of slight irritation. "No problem. Come on, let's get you a Batman costume. If there isn't any, I'll just use Brucie's money to get what you want."

Dick's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "You would bribe someone just to get me a costume?"

"A good costume." Bruce said firmly as they closed the clock door behind them. "Because I only get the best for my son."

Dick's face lit up at that, and Bruce decided that nothing, not even the mystery of Roy Harper, could make him give up this night. He might have missed out on five years of celebrating Halloween with this boy, but he wouldn't give up another.

What he wasn't aware of was that this might be his first and last Halloween with his son.

xXx

AN: Oh look, its the shy creature known as the Update, making an appearance in its natural habitat- A Story. Watch as it appears at random, either twice a week, or once a month. Its loving mother, known to us as an Author, was supposed to bring a new Update into the world once a week, but has failed to do so at a regular schedule. If the Author doesn't produce an Update often enough, creatures called Readers will often become agitated and screech in her ear until she does so. This may seem cruel, but the truth is the Author needs these shoutings in order to get her shit together, which is necessary for the creation of a new Update.

(I have a lot of energy, okay? Don't judge.

Thanks for the comments and votes from last chapter! I hope to see you all next... week? Next month? Tomorrow? I don't even know. xD)