Revenge (Seqeal To Wrong Parent)

11--Planning

"You're telling me that Deathstroke knows where the Cave is?" I asked Bruce, shocked. "And he rigged the cave with fear gas?"

Bruce nodded grimly. "That's why I was late. I was trying to find the source and get the gas out of my system. I was so caught up with it, it slipped my mind that I was going to the mountain today."

I sat back, the hot chocolate that Alfred had made me to calm my nerves forgotten. "He's watching me, Bruce," I said quietly. "First Megan and now the cave...nobody and nowhere is safe."

Bruce gently swept the hair out of my eyes. "It'll be alright," he said quietly. "Deathstroke won't get you again. And I'm not going to give him the chance to hurt anyone else, okay?"

I nodded, though I didn't know if the choice would be his.

~

"Are you sure you should be training right now?" A voice said behind me.

I jumped slightly. Wally could be really quiet when he wanted to be. "Why shouldn't I be?" I asked, throwing another punch at the dummy.

"Batman told us you inhaled fear gas," Wally said. "That's some pretty dangerous stuff. You should be-"

"I'm fine, Wally," I growled slightly.

"Are you sure?" Wally asked. "You sound pretty angry."

I sighed and turned to face my friend. "Miss M is poisoned, the Batcave was breached, and anyone around me could be in danger, but I can't do anything about it. I just feel so useless right now. And there's nothing to do to get my mind off it." I turned and drove my fist against the punching bag again, hard. "The least I can do is try and get stronger so I can fight Deathstroke at least a little when he tries to take me back."

"Driving yourself so hard can't be healthy," Wally said. "Besides, Deathstroke won't get a hold of you again. And besides, you could always talk to me to get your mind off things. Besides, Conner's hogging the tv so I can't play video games. If we ask Batman, maybe he'll let you come over to my house. Uncle Barry will be there, so at least we'll have a Leaguer to protect us, not like we need protecting or anything."

"Batman will say no," I said. "He's being super protective right now. It's so not asterous." I stretched my sore muscles. "I guess if we gang up, we could take over the tv from Conner."

"No way," Wally said with a goofy smile. "He's super protective of that tv. He won't go down with just the two of us."

I smiled. "Well, we can ask Arty for help. She's taught me most of the swear words I know from when we're playing Call of Duty or Fallout4." I unwrapped the tape around my hands. "I'm gonna go shower off first. You can go ask her and I'll be out in a flash."

"Hey, that's what I'm supposed to say," Wally pouted.

I shrugged and ran into the locker rooms.

~

I layed in bed that night feeling better than I had for a while. Hanging out with the team was probably the best thing for me. I'd just been so stressed and bored that I hadn't been acting like myself. And Joker and the fear toxin didn't help me, neither did Megan getting poisoned. But now, Megan was getting better, Joker was once again behind bars, and there was no more toxin in the cave.

I had almost fallen asleep when my phone went off. I glanced at my clock. Who would be texting me at one in the morning? I grabbed my phone and temporarily blinded myself trying to read the text. I didn't recognize the number, but from the text, I knew exactly who it was. It read, Are you really hiding behind your teammates? I'll make them fall one by one. You think that your Martian friend had it rough? I know all your friend's weaknesses and a way to kill them all by hardly raising a finger. Make the right choice, apprentice. Join me willingly or your friends will all be dead. Your a smart boy, Renegade. I trust you'll make the right choice.

Suddenly, all good feelings throughout the day vanished and it was replaced by my old fears. No, not again! I thought. Before I could work myself up anymore, I stood up and ran to Bruce's room. He'll know what to do. I thought. He always knows what to do.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Bruce?" I called.

There was the sound of footsteps and the door swung open. "Dick? What's the matter?"

"I-I got a message," I said. "F-From Slade."

Bruce's eyes widened and I handed him my phone. He read over the message and sighed. "I thought something like this would happen. This just proves that we need to find him before he attacks us again. It's even worse that he knows where the Batcave entrance is. He can also hack the Zeta Tubes, which means virtually nowhere is safe."

I'd been trying to come up with a plan for a while, but the only one that made any sense was dangerous and I knew Bruce wouldn't agree to it in a million years. "W-what if I give myself up?" I said.

Bruce stared at me, searching my face to find a trace of sarcasm there. He couldn't find it. I was being serious. I went on quickly before he could interrupt me. "I mean, he'll take away any trackers and he's very careful, but if we find Slade's hideout, than we know where he'll take me, right? Then the team and the League can show up and take Deathstroke down and I'll be safe."

"There's too much margin for error in that plan, Dick," Bruce said. "He could take you somewhere else. Or he'll hurt you again. I wouldn't know what to do if he hurt you like he did last time."

"I guess I could just do whatever he wanted me to do," I said. "What if I'm sent to kill the team and the League, and you guys can just stop me. Then I can tell you where he's hiding and we can attack."

"He'll be monitoring your every movement," Bruce said. "There's way too many ways this plan can go wrong."

"I know that there's risks, Bruce," I tried to reason. "But we need to end this sooner rather than later. The longer it takes for me to return to Deathstroke, the chance of someone else being hurt like Megan is greater. I've thought through all of the possibilities, Bruce. He's too smart to be baited. If I faked my death, I could never show my face in public again, as Dick Grayson or as Robin. Giving myself up is the only way."

Bruce gritted his teeth. He knew I was right. Even if he didn't agree, I was going to do this. "I can't let anyone else get hurt, Bruce," I said. "Megan was poisoned because of me. Who knows what he'll do to the rest of the team. Bruce, you've got to let me do this. Please."

Bruce sighed. "Don't let me regret this, Dick."

I sighed. "Don't worry. You won't."

~
Sorry about the lack of updates. Huge case of writer's block with this.

It also didn't help that I've watched Soul Eater and am currently in the middle of Attack on Titan. I've also read the second Brotherband book and I'm reading The Book Thief, which is a lot thicker than I expected. The chapters are short, but there's about 84 of them and 550 pages with tiny text (at least in the book I have)

Anywho...I have no idea where this is going....sorry!

Wrote this in the car without wifi, so the next update should be soon!