Chapter 4: Clearly WRONG About You
The itchy uniform pulled at Dick's skin as Slade posed in a costume with a fake eye and everything. He was serious, faking an enrollment interview in this fancy pants school like Dick had almost been locked away in.
"Mr……D'Angelo." The staff pointedly brought their face in close to gather just who this this military parent was below his suit and tie. "Our school takes in those that understand, our very…guided system, Mr. D'Angelo. Is this your son by chance, I take it?"
"Say hello, Dominic."
Slade coaxed Dick to talk as he only nodded with a smile and a presentable "How do you do."
One the grounds, the grades were not as split, yet the buildings were of many divisions.
"Our auditorium is maybe of interest for your Dominic to see for himself? I heard his acting and dramatically theater influences come from some very well-known names…"
Dick waited until Slade had the interviewer "host" strung up around his pinkie, while Dick moved to find the grade school where Tim had to be in the cafeteria in a corner with his science experiment and a book on the history of the planet.
The boy read intently, yet Richard noticed that he could walk right in, his new skills from his teacher made it easier than granted. He stood by the boy's table with a lunch tray he'd gotten. An apple, a quiche and a drink token him happy. His teacher didn't like when Dick ate garbage without his permission. He'd promised any sugary treat after the job was done, and Dick wanted an ice cream cone like yesterday. Slade would just throw out anything they took home or confiscate it the next day anyway. "HIYA, watcha readin?" The kid decided to use his goof ball stereotype persona.
"The cover is here, can't you read it?"
Dick bit back a smirk and turned his head to see the front. "Evolution into the Modern Era, that's…interesting to you?"
Tim put the book down and let out a puff of breath before answering, "Very, I feel extremely endowed with knowledge like never before." He was being cruel, little brat. "Oh, so…. when lunch is over, wanna play in the courtyard? I know a great game that involves scavenging for fossils..."
He had to say yes! Say yes!
"No thank you, maybe some other time, perhaps." The boy returned to his large chapters s Dick bit his lip.
Look at your surroundings, find an opportunity.
The food, the kids here…
No staff present in certain areas….
Dick cracked a smile, scooting away as he made sure to tip into someone while he was ready to get a shiny new apple. A Red headed kid sneered at him as Dick moved backwards. "Roy, don't do it…" A girl with dark hair pulled the red head kid's sleeve as he just ignored her words of wisdom.
"HEY!" Dick turned around, his eyes on the boy as adjusting himself, this kid wasn't too different in height or …wait…was he older!?
This wasn't a kid's table – it was the BIG kids! So….
Dick had forgotten…. Tim was ahead anew grades, a prodigy.
Should have listened to teacher, Dick tutted himself mentally as he stepped back. "You going to say you're sorry or what? This suit is my father's money. I'd rather not get it dirty, well?"
He was at least being honest, right? "Sorry, bit anemic. Ha to get something for my iron…" Dick panted and the lights went on. "Donna, got a minute."
"Roy, that's super rude." The dark haired thirteen-year-old scoffed before taking Dick's arm. "You need to lie down; we have to registered nurse-
"I need to talk to my cousin; he can take me out to the nurse to call home…please?"
I'm getting my sugar buzz on tonight! Dick could see the chocolate vanilla swirls as Donna smiled and called Tim over. "Timmy, you're needed, squirt."
From over Roy's shoulder, Dick had just missed it; James Gordon's daughter was watching intently with her hand in her pocket. With one press, the message was received.
"The rabbit is on the run, next up." She smiled and went back to clearing her plate. "We're counting on you, B."
/
Tim stormed out despite keeping his eyes in his book towards the hall when he flashed a snarl back at Dick. "Tacos here are terrible on Tuesdays. Sorry-
"WHO are you!?" Tim hissed and pointed his book at the pre teenaged assassin's protégé's next mug shot. "I if you happen to know or don't, I don't care, know ALL the names of my cousins from both branches in the United States, the United Kingdom and FRANCE!" Tim huffed in a growling, serious tone. "You, are, not from this school." He kept pointing Dick into a corner. "You never directly told me your name or…I knew it! You're-
"I'M…. A SPY TRYING TO RESCUE YOU FROM BAD MEN THAT WANT TO TAKE YOU IN FOR A LARGE RANDSOM!" Dick threw his hands over his face as Tim gawked.
"How…. a spy." He dropped his arms, then groaned.
Dick chewed his lip and tried to clear up his big mouth, "Your dad, made some specific people…. kinda peeved off, so my partner is here with me to stop them in their tracks. He can get us to a better place in no time."
"My life would ONLY be in danger if something serious were to clearly happen that involves threats or…" Tim tossed his young nose up as the click of a lock from the inside of the building shut off some of the lights. "Why am I the anomaly at times like this, why!"
A flicker resounded. Dick shrugged, acting the wisest of the two. "See? You need me, so come on!"
Tim was dragged against his will as the book was forgotten with his notes on each bit of content that he'd already checked out from his library. "Where are you taking me??"
Dick moved fast, the walls he remembered were a time capsule as things got…. slower.
For him, and his past as a student in this place.
~ Why didn't Mr. Wayne come to see my teachers? They keep doing bad things, I hate it here!~
Dick heard his heart thumping in his ears and he knew that he was about to go into a panic attack if he did not find his MA-
~ Al…. I'm sorry –
~ You look an awful mess, dear boy…Did tye nurse not race to attend to your injuries?
Dick kept running. Tim's angry rants were spoken but felt muted instead of useful.
~ Grayson, if I catch you around this pm of the school or talking to Donna again, you're going down –
~ Leave him alone! You can't do that to him, he's still recovering from the last time you got restless and wanted to kick someone weaker than you.~
A Red headed had saved him that day, but he never let her get too close. "Babs is the name, don't pay mind to him. He'd hit a tree if it waved too hard at em!" She made him chuckle, but he still cried himself to sleep and went back into being harassed by that boy…it was a few years though. Why w –
"Agh!!"
Dick blinked away his distraction to see that a few goons in ski masks were holding rope, guns…. cuffs.
This was wrong, where was Slade! Where was he when he promised –
The man in the middle budged as he knocked the two down in half the time, two punches as he pulled of his mask to reveal his other cloth one. Two toned, just as much a warning shot as Tim swallowed. "He's….very prepared..but I'mused to it so, do your worst!" Ah, the brave kid routine. Dick was sure one time it had become his fate as well as he looked at Skade with a pout. "Why did you go that far? Tim's here, is this all of the guys?"
"Were you sure no one was following you." Slade motioned to two figures in the shadow of the hall. A young red headed girl with a bat themed mask, and a purple and golden ensemble. Batman, was there to show her how to get the job one. If Dick had stayed, would he have been the next bat too…?
"Glad you got the memo earlier than the rest, seeing as my contact was someone hired by you, Mr. Wayne."
Batgirl grit her teeth and looked to Bruce worriedly. "You…. know each other, B?"
"We go a ways back. Dick, your done, Slade was foolish to come here and entangle you in his blood contracts. They're against the law –
"We just saved this kid, Bruce! Even you didn't have to hire him for that swim not GOING back! I can't-
"Take your money, dark knight." Slade said in a disgusted way, "This was about closure. I have no need to take from the richest in a city of dying and sick to make you happy, playboy."
"That, was low, whoever you are." Frowned Batgirl. "He doesn't get it because you probably keep him guessing, we know you've been on the move and now? You have nowhere to run." She grinned boastfully.
"There is always a way, my dear. Don't make that mistake like your father has."
"WHOA! BACK UP!
"Down!" Bruce pulled Babs out of the way as she yelled at Slade, yet the patented flash bangs were just to keep the bats dazed a while. "The courtyard!"
"No." Bruce stopped the girl with a squint if his vision. "Up, they are taking to the-
The clank of a large motor had Dick's scent assured. "They're getting airborne, go!"
/
Slade knew that setting a stray copter off and borrowing a motorcycle was the thing to keep Batman well away until they reached the city limits. Out of the way, Wayne's world was a parody of structure and a false sense of order, how things could look for the average individual still starving in Gotham. "How long till we get out of this city, sir…."
Slade heard the boy below him as he hunched into the cycle to stay from looking up. "Soon, hang on and don't let go. We got the job done, just the wrong client." Slade sighed and revved the engine a bit. "You'll get to rest on the plane. Stay strong, child, you did alright for your first test."
/
Test…" Slade had a jet. A, J- E – T! Not a copter, not a ship. A. JET.
Dick however, was still reluctant to tall about their little reunion with the bat and his new partner – slash- protégé.
Babs, he knew it had to be her. The girl who really only cared because Bruce probably hooked her into his line of work and his agendas. Slade was just working, but the one concern was his code. Timmy broke the code, never go and endanger kids, Batman too. He'd…set them both up. And both lost what they'd wanted.
"Sir, Slade?" Dick turned to his teacher as Slade looked up from his tablet with a waiting glance. "Yes, dear boy. What is it."
"You said, a test…" Dick chewed at his tension, his thousands swirling back to the promises Slade had offered. "Why did you call that job a test, for me."
/
Slade sat, quiet and managing what he was going to say next, he knew how to handle this. Better than Bruce ever could, he would not falter. "What that bat did was a dirty tactic, and I almost certainly knew fir some minor case…that this would be a stunt pulled by someone with a lot of money to toss in my face for the purpose of a single lie. He wanted you, so much that he hired me to bring you, and to actually save that boy, by men I hired to act as kidnappers."
"WAIT…..WAHt?? You both were in on it??"
Slade leaned back with a clcky grin and chuckled. "That's why it took no time to run and split it before your dark knight had a new scent to hunt down. He's angry, Dick. At me, at himself, he is a desperate man doing desperate things." Slade's tone changed to a serious one. "Have I not made sure you'd be prepared, you didn't scare, you controlled your flashbacks and your acting is espionage quality by far." Slade praised him. "A few more months on the road in my footsteps, and you'll even be able to handle a shotgun for your first time when you're ready, right now, I'd at least wait a couple of years to be sure. You're a child, so we can focus on agility and even endure if you like."
"Then Tim…is that why too? He is never in any real danger? My old classmate…. she's his partner! Batman's-
"She looked the part, and I will be sure you are ready to face her in the future. Who knows how good she actually is, being the Commissioner's daughter." Dick sat down next to Slade before leaning into his seat lazily. "Don't slouch, Dick." The man reminded him. "We have a long flight out and posture is important as your form will be once we get there."
"There, sir?" The boy sat up, "Where are we going in a hurry. New contracts abroad?"
"Been paying attention, have you?" Slade smiled pridefully back at his star pupil. "That's wonderful, keep up the good work. I promised something sweet for your efforts, didn't I."
"I….don't really want it anymore, sir." Dick softly shook his head. "Actually, what I really wanted was….was a cycle like that one. It went so fast, and I never got to ride before. Can it…be a sixteenth birthday present? I'll sacrifice years of sugar for that one bike! I'll be better now that I know I'm staying around." The man rustled the kid's thick dark locks as he bashful batted the man to knock it off. "I'm not your dog, I'm youryapprent8ce and if work hard I might 3arn that bike." He grinned. "Not even the dark knight would be able to catch me then."
/
They were in Brazil and sugar was all he saw in every marketplace. "Are you sure one young coconut doesn't cut a few dollars off of that promise, dear child? You need to hydrate anyway."
Dick had his first real coconut and it was then that he vowed in the future at fourteen even, to come back and have another by the water….
Fifteen…..
And he was still too short, too young for that bike in the image his phone. "Want….it…so...badly!" Upside down in the hotel of his bed like a love-stricken girl with a crush, the door slipped open just before Dick could bust a nut. (Playing on beast boy reaction to the Tidwell. 2003]
"Apprentice, I'm heading out early to secure our contract. Feel like getting a new tan?" Slade was in his…. trunks and his abs…still perfect for being a hunk in the sand and impressing his clients.
"Ugh, why not." Dick rose and smirk at his teacher who as he'd said, never seemed to age and day. He'd chosen to get one to preserve his new cover, the nephew of a man who Slade was, who had a fake wife here who was a part of a team called S.P.Y.R.A.L. Dick had read about how the group implanted chips in its operative ps so that you couldn't guess by their faces. He hadnever been dog tagged by anyone, so being about that close to someone rumored to run a serious operation brought a bit of butterflies to fester as Dick got into his swim trunks as well. "Slade, you used to have a speedo. I saw it in –
"Not for your eyes, or anything but the past." Slade put up a finger. Dick just slyly grinned, almost impish as he tried to make it sound better than it had looked. So dang retro though, no one wore those styles like his master had. Maybe Superman could try on a pair, he chuckled and followed Slade out to the beach. Once your feet felt gravel, asphalt and ash, you got used to sand. Sometimes, as Dick hopped along less today than he had coming back a few weeks ago. Brazil still had amazing style, culture and…waves.
"I'm riding THAT one." Dick pointed as Slade stared at the boy, as likely to pop as a blister on Dick's burning foot. "Not until I'm sure the coast is clear. Stick by me and, do you remember some your language lessons?"
Dick nodded, then cheerily saluting his master like a total card. " Ola!"
Slade grumbled as Dick cleared his throat. "And, I stay out of the way…as usual." The teen deadpanned. "Good boy, then come. The client and his companion are waiting to greet us."