The conversation was not the best. Nor was it wanted. The Batman was mad, upset and was somewhat dissociated from the whole ordeal of this entire call. It was a touchy subject he just didn't want to talk about. Clark could tell even if he was trying to be polite. He knew Bruce sometimes got a little to blunt when he was stressed. "What do you mean Richard is in Metropolis?

Clark shrugged has he hovered over the scene. He was keeping an eye on those he had rescued as the police took control over the situation. Something about... well everything didn't sit well with him. The police could take care of the hostages, he knew soon enough they would have to deal with whoever was in the building. It seemed so simple but something else was going on and Bruce definitely knew more than what he lead others to believe.

"As I said, I just saw him. Then he disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Clark could hear the groan from the other end of the line.

"Deathstroke, he has something over the boys head doesn't he?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because he's also here."

"Of course he is."

"Bruce." At this point nothing was making sense, Richard had been missing for months now. There was pieces of the puzzle that just didn't fit, something had happened recently. Something that Bruce wasn't telling him. And he knew Bruce wouldn't just not believe him. He knew that Clark wouldn't lie to him about something so sensitive. "What is going on?"

He could hear the heavy sigh. "I'll be there soon. There is a lot we need to go over. For instance I believe Deathstroke doesn't have anything to hold over Richards head, he's there by choice. Or so he thinks."

"By choice?"

Another sigh. "Right now there is a lot going on, I have to try to bring him home. But it will be costly. And I don't even know if I can... He may be to lost at this point. I have to make another call."

"Bruce I- Wait!" Clark was met with silence once the call ended. "What is going on?" he questioned the phone before he pocketed it.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Master Bruce?" The manors butler noted that his employer had just gotten off a call with Clark Kent. "Is everything quite alright?" A call from Superman wasn't out of the ordinary in this household, but he noticed that Dick was mentioned. "Did Superman find him?" Normally if things were alright with the world Bruce would of teased Alfred regarding his pay for spying on the master of the house. But nothing right now was considered normal. There was a tension in the air that grew each night and it was threatening to suffocate them all right now.

"Not on purpose, he was evacuating a building in Metropolis. He was there. Clark said he just disappeared however."

"Disappeared?"

"He can't explain it. He was just gone."

"Are you going to call them sir? The Titans, as you promised?" Bruce nodded as he adjusted his cowl. "I don't really want to have Superman involved, but knowing him he'll find a way to get entangled and I know he won't leave it be." The Caped Crusader let out a sigh. "And I understand why. Especially if I show up with Robins team."

"The League knows he's missing."

"Clark also encountered Deathstroke."

"Ahhh that would complicate things."

Batman grabbed a few things from his computer desk and began to walk towards the Batwing as the vehicle lowered itself to become accessible. "Remember the Titans sir." The Caped Crusader nodded. "I'll make the call when I'm en route."

Alfred could only wish him good luck as the Batwing rose up beyond the cave itself. Although after knowing the truth he was unsure of how the next events would play out. Or if he even wanted to see it all come to some wild conclusion. But that was what they did, wasn't it? With a heavy heart Alfred turned back towards the caves and the manor. His eyes over looking all of Bruce's work and spotted picture frames that sat to the left. One frame held Bruce's parents, an ongoing symbol of why Bruce became Batman. A picture of himself and of course one of Master Richard. His heart broke just a little. The boy was so young when that picture was taken, possible around the tender age of ten. His face carried a mischievous smile for one that had lost so much only two years prior. Alfred approached the picture and gingerly picked it up. His eyes drinking in the image before him. The young boy in that picture, he wondered now if he could be saved from the brink once again.

The butler sighed and spoke softly. "That is what we do isn't it?" He could only hope for the best at this point.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"But you died."

"I did?"

"How are you alive?" The look on his face was of pure astonishment. Sariel was here, right in front of him. She was alive and well. But the how he couldn't grasp. He watched her die. And while he could not retrieve her body he buried the memory of her out in those woods by her grandmother's cabin in France. His breaths were deep, she wasn't supposed to be here, she wasn't supposed to be alive. And for a moment everything flew out the window. All thought and all logic.

"How do you think? Do you think it's not so impossible for people to presumably come back from the dead?"

His mind snapped back to reality and images of red flash through his mind. "She did. Didn't she?"

"No. Not exactly."

"But-"

She smirked at him. "I guess you can say I'm very lucky. If one wants to call it that. She did make a call however. And she did somewhat save me from the rubble I suppose. It seemed death wanted nothing to do with me that day. Although the reasons for my coming back from the brink of death are not necessarily my own. I made some promises in my youth that I need to keep you see."

"What?"

"I'm a child soldier remember. I've never known the freedom of choice. The freedom of what I wanted to learn, the skills I wanted to weild, who took care of me, the languages I speak. All of it was decided for me, everything was imprinted from the beginning. Even my place of birth, who my parents where, their deaths. Freedom was taken from me. All so I could be the better soldier, my education was meant to be used on the battlefield. Its all I was ever supposed to know, all I was ever supposed to be. Nothing is by chance, it's just one carefully manipulated battle after another. There was nothing else for people like me. Until I found him. And for the first time I did something for myself and I made a promise." Her eyes looked beyond him, there was a sorrow there as she looked on. Robin never did ask much about her past. In truth he hardly knew her, but at the time it didn't matter, in those particular moments, back in the desert, she was a friend. But now... he knew anyone could betray you at any time, everyone had a reason to stab you in the back.

"What keeps you here Robin?"

The teen narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"Is it your education, your now mangled morals, or perhaps some sort of disfigured remnant of faith that keeps you here? You could be looking into the depths of your own demise, your complete destruction and yet you still think that help is coming? The world you were born into Robin, it was made to save you. No matter how dark you painted your image now, your background is still that of a hero. And hero's get saved while so many others die. Can you truly say you can look death straight in the face and take it all on." She laughed. "It wouldn't matter, no sacrifice changes the world."

Realization dawned on the teen. "You're with them. You've always been with them. You never betrayed them."

"I see rubbing your nose around in a battlefield finally taught you something." She smirked as Robin pointed his gun at her. "Digging yourself a deeper hole into hell I see. Humans are truly capable of horrific things. They act so coy but lash out the moment the pretty image fades around them."

"How long?"

"Never."

"I don't understand." his gun was aimed at her head. One shot and she would drop to the floor, this nightmare would be over. And Sariel would be dead. Again. She smirked and suddenly within a blink of an eye she grabbed his hands, twisted around him and flipped him onto his back, taking the gun right out of his hands. Robin looked up and saw her taking the gun apart leaving only pieces that she tossed behind her, the only remains of the weapon was the ammo that now lay at her feet.

"Never." She smiled again and walked backwards a few steps back into the dark until she turned the flashlight off and vanished from sight, her footsteps even became silent as if she suddenly vanished from the room. She was gone. The only thing he could hear was the sound of the flashlight as it rolled to his feet. He was about to pick it up when he noticed that there was a red USB drive in his hand. "What?" Robin thought back to the moment she flipped him. Did she take the gun out of his hand only to replace it with this? If she had given him something... what did that mean?

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Batwing was a sight to see as it tore through the clouds. It wouldn't take him long to get to Metropolis, he had only hoped the Titans had a resource to get there just as fast. "Computer, call Titan Tower." there was a small screen that popped up in front of the hero and he watched as the young team assembled in front of their monitor, most of them being half asleep. "I have an update. Meet me in Metropolis."

Cyborg looked a bit confused. "Tomorrow?"

The Batman narrowed his eyes. "Now. Robin is there, right now."

The team looked at one another and it was the green one that spoke up. "For sure?"

Batman nodded. "His latest contact was with Superman. He's there and we need to get to him before he can leave the city."

Raven spoke up however, she was always the most logical of the group. "If Superman was there why didn't he just grab Robin?"

"Things got complicated. I can explain more once you get here. I believe you have a reliable method of transportation."

The group nodded. "We got the T-Ship."

"We'll meet up, I've send you the coordinates." And with that the Batman cut communication. Once the call was over Bruce sat back a bit in his chair. He hated to admit it, but he felt like he was going to need all the help he could get. Even though if he had to the chance to sort this out by himself he would gladly take it. But everything honestly just kept getting more and more complicated and there was to much on the line here. He wouldn't endanger his son's life for his pride. Even if Robin had taken a darker turn.