Unbreakable (A Dick Grayson story)

CH 15: Dick is not quite sneaky enough

"Are we really going to keep that?" Wally asked, clearly more than a little bit concerned over the giant wolf that was currently sprawled out on the kitchen floor.

Superboy glowered at him, moving to stand protectively over the animal. "Of course we're going to keep him. Wolf is here to stay."

"Fine, fine... but can we at least name him something other than wolf?"

Wolf, the giant wolf, let out a low growl, the sound more than enough to shut up the speedster who raised his hands in defeat.

"Okay... Wolf it is."

Dick snickered, rolling his eyes at the conversation. "Great. So we've got a wolf now. Wonderful. But can we pleasefurther discuss this mole thing? Clearly keeping secrets does not work for the wellbeing of this team. Is there a way to know for sure that it was Red Tornado?"

They had just returned from a mission with Captain Marvel (Shazam) and it had nearly been a disaster. Heavy on the dis. And, while Aqualad had briefly explained his reasoning for not letting the rest of the team in on the fact that they might have a mole amongst them, Dick saw no harm in bringing up the discussion once more.

Bringing it up himself would further prove his 'innocence', as no one would suspect the person who seemingly was trying to sort everything out. Sometimes, Dick concerned himself with how great of a liar he had become.

But at least his lies had a purpose.

He was serving justice, even if it might not feel like it at times.

"Unfortunately, no. At least, not until Red Tornado has been found. For now, we are working under the assumption that something in his programing led to a betrayal." Aqualad sighed, looking rather defeated over the whole thing.

Dick bit back a grin.

Perfect.

"What about the Red siblings? They can't have only come here to take us out."

Wally frowned, setting down the bag of chips that he had been munching on. "Wait... you think that they wanted information?"

Aqualad nodded somberly. "That would make sense. The computers here are connected to the Justice League databases, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to at least check for security breaches. Robin, is it possible to see if any information was stolen during the attack?"

"I should be able to... might take a bit of digging though. I'll also have to lower some of our security walls to properly check though... if anyone is searching, they'll be able to find us here."

"Do it. The rest of us can patrol the area while you're looking."

Dick grinned; darkness hidden behind the mirth in his gaze. Everything was just perfect. "Yup. I'm on it." They trusted him to take care of a problem he himself had caused.

Idiots.

As the rest of the team spread out to patrol around the Mountain, Dick plugged his glove into the main computer, booting up the program that he had run during the attack.

Specially coded by him and Slade, the program had created an easy back way into the system. And it left virtually no trace. Dick's fingers flew over the keyboard, removing any signs of the program's invasion. It was easy to hide.

For a brief moment, Dick dropped all the firewalls keeping the system secure, activating the secondary part of the program.

There.

The signal had been received. Slade now had access to the Justice League computer systems.

Dick rebooted the system, double and triple checking that his trail had been completely swept clean. It was perfect. But of course, it would be. He had full faith in Slade's plans.

He continued to type, coding in a second program, one that bore the distinct signature of Red Tornado; a signature that he had memorized years ago when training with Slade.

The decoy was in place.

"There... all done." Dick grinned down at his screen, pleased with how nicely everything had worked out. He reached up, tapping the communicator in his ear. "Hey guys? Everything good out there? I'm finished... and I found something."

It only took a few minutes for the team to gather in the main room, all looking eager and ready for an update on the situation.

"Okay, so first of all, it was not that bad. They clearly planned to have more time in the cave to get into our systems, which Artemis thwarted when she knocked them out." Dick nodded toward the archer with a grin, making her smile back.

Easy.

So, so easy.

Dick glanced around at the others before continuing on. "I found a virus that was clearly designed to get in and steal all our information. However, in order to get that information, they would have needed to connect back to the computer, something that they were unable to do which means that nothing was lost. I did remove the virus though and patch the system."

Unless someone knew what they were looking for, it really did appear as if the Reds had implanted a virus meant to extract data which Dick had successfully patched.

"Good work, Robin. That was very quick thinking on your part." Aqualad praised, patting Dick on the back in a congratulatory manner.

Wally stepped over, slinging an arm over Dick's shoulder. "Great job. Now can we please do something fun? It's already pretty late and I have school tomorrow. Let's watch a movie."

"Oh! I can make popcorn! And cookies!" M'gann cheered, nodding enthusiastically while starting to tug Superboy toward the kitchen, her enthusiasm making the generally stoic teen break into a smile.

"I guess a movie wouldn't be awful."

Artemis followed M'gann and Superboy into the kitchen, Wally trailing behind her, probably planning on stealing most of the already made cookies so M'gann would have to make more.

With a soft sigh, Dick turned to look at Aqualad. "You know, if we don't try to select a movie first it'll just end up being another rom-com. And we both know how bad the last one was."

"Right. Let's hurry."

Aqualad and Dick shared a traumatized look before following the others, settling in for a long night of fun and team bonding. And, for the first time in a while, Dick did his best to relax and be himself. He had completed his main mission at the Mountain.

All that remained was acquiring the information from the Batcave.

~•~

Bruce had only just arrived at the Batcave when the notification appeared on his screen.

Someone had attempted, and succeeded, to hack the system. Changes had been made, changes that seemed... unnecessary.

Why would an attacker create a virus only to patch it within the next few minutes?

It made no sense.

And as Bruce pulled up the security camera feed, his confusion only grew.

He watched the footage carefully, watched it over and over again until he finally turned off the computer.

Leaning back in his chair, Bruce frowned.

It was all too clear what had happened.

Robin.

Dick.

His son had done something to the programing. Why, Bruce was unsure. But he did know one thing. Whatever the reason, he would find out.

Because there had to be a good reason behind Dick's actions.

There just had to be.