Titans: Rise of Talon

Flying Solo

A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry for the monumental wait. Life has been crazy, and college has been kicking my butt this year. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all of your support!!!
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23:07 PDT
Titans Tower, Jump City
December 2nd
.........

For the past three hours, Bruce and Jason had spent every moment combing through Dick's files on Slade. The amount of information Dick had on the mercenary could have only come bat levels of paranoia and fixation. A kind of obsession Jason had only seen when a cape found their archenemy and had enough of a brain to store everything they had on the villain. Thankfully, the first Robin was organized with his information.

A digital map of Jump was pockmarked with a handful of red dots to show known hideouts and multiple blue spots to hint at potential safe houses not yet confirmed. Most of the blue was connected to the high rises and luxury apartments—the kind of areas more likely to ask questions about a teenage vigilante swinging by. That explained why Dick hadn't quite gotten around to inspecting it yet.

One folder held several "borrowed" files on Deathstroke from the Watchtower's database.

    Another folder contained every newspaper clip and article available on either Slade's activities in Jump or suspected assassinations by Deathstroke.

Another of old contracts and past allies that Dick could have only retrieved from one of Slade's bases. The two bats didn't want to know how he got that information, but with the previous abduction, or "apprenticeship" according to the files, they could guess.

     "I can work with this," Jason mused. After nearly two hours of silence while sifting through the information, his voice almost felt too loud in the stifled air.

    "Is there anything else you need before heading out tomorrow?" Bruce asked.

   Jason's eyes glanced at the list of allies, the name Professor Chang catching his attention. A sharp smile creeped across his face. Seems like Red X will be needing another shipment of Zynothium sooner than he thought.

    "Nah, I think I've got it covered, old man."

   Bruce barely hid a snort of amusement and instead placed a hand on Jason's shoulder in a half-hug. The reality of his son being here—being alive—was something he was still getting used to, and he took every opportunity to reassure himself that this wasn't a cruel dream ready to fade at any moment.

"Bruce?" Jason asked, and Bruce only hugged tighter.

"Come back to me, son," he whispered, "Whatever happens, just please come home."

Jason's throat tightened, and his eyes burned as he returned the hug. To think of what he had almost done, of what he had planned to do. If he had gone back to Gotham without seeking his older brother out first, he wondered if Bruce would be as open and warm as he was now. But as Bruce's cape curled around the both of them, Jason pushed that dark, green-tinged thought away and let the cape of the Bat shield him for the first time in years.

"I'll come back," he swore, "and I'll bring Goldie back too. I promise. He owes me for skipping out on his own party."

.........

   "Dude, did you know Rob had a brother?"  Beast Boy asked Cyborg from his perch on the older teen's work table.

Cy briefly looked up from the unaffectionately-dubbed "Slade-cam" and turned back to it. His index finger had morphed into a small blowtorch so he could take the camera apart.

"Nah, man, I had no idea. But it kinda makes looking back. No matter what we did, Red X always managed to get away. I think if Rob really did want to suit back, he'd have fought harder to get it, y'know?"