The Network

Part 7: Brother Troubles

Dick's POV

I stayed at the Manor that night, in my old bedroom. They had kept everything exactly the way I had left it, but with no speck of dust in sight. I assumed that was Alfred's doing.

I had gone back briefly to the safe house to fetch my car and clothes. My car was now parked in the manor's very large garage along with all of Bruce's, and my suitcase had been unpacked.

I woke up early the next morning, Bruce having insisted that I stay at the Manor while he and Damian went on patrol, something about not trusting Jason and Tim to be there alone, even with Alfred. Judging by the way that they were arguing the day before, I silently agreed.

I walked down to the kitchen after having gotten changed, to be greeted by the sound of shouting followed by breaking glass. I went in to find that Jason had Tim in a stranglehold, and that the glass breaking had been caused by Tim knocking his plate to the floor. I practically ripped Jason off of Tim who began gasping for air.
"What's going on here?!" I shouted, furiously, restraining  Jason from attacking Tim again.
"Listen here, Goldie," Jason spat, "Just because you've returned from the dead doesn't give you the right to boss me around."
"I'm not trying to," I told him, "I just don't want you to end up choking Tim!"
"Fine," Jason growled, "then I won't."
"Good," I replied, letting him go.

Breakfast was a quiet affair after that, with Jason glaring daggers at me throughout. After breakfast, I got up and headed to the Batcave, where I found Bruce going over the events of his previous night's patrol. I walked straight over to the zeta beams, but Bruce stopped me before I could go through.
"Where are you going?" he asked
"I promised the team I'd go back to the cave today," I replied.
"Alright then," he agreed, giving me a short nod and carrying on with his work. I then entered the zeta beam, which took me back to Mount Justice.

Most of the previous day's mess had been cleared, with o a few chunks of rock missing from the ceiling being the only indication that they had fallen in the first place.

As everyone in the team now knew my identity, there was no point in hiding it, so I didn't wear the shades or my suit. Instead, I wore my casual clothes, jeans, shirt, sweater, the usual.

When the zeta beams announced my arrival, I was greeted by Wally speeding in.
"Hey Wally," I said, giving him a smile, "how's it going?"
"Great," he replied, "what did you have in mind for today?" I smirked.
"Well, I was thinking of maybe trolling a few people, but then I realized I would need an accomplice, and I didn't know who would help me."
"You know," Wally said, grinning, "I might know a guy."

We began with rigging up a few hidden microphones all over the cave, ones that were linked to a main one that would project anything that came through it. We then made a recording of my signature cackle™ and fed it into the sound system, so that it would begin with the click of a button, one that I had control of.

Wally and I then settled ourselves into the couch with the others, and waited for the time to strike.

We were watching 'Friends' when Wally gave me the signal. I grinned at him, an pressed the button on the remote control in my pocket.

The sound of my eerie cackle filled the cave, echoing through the halls and causing everyone to jump. They took one look at Wally and I and realized what was going on, as we were both struggling to contain our laughter. We both eventually ended up on the floor, gasping for breath. It was good to be back.

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