Leaving the Nest
Causality

Mount Justice

August 3rd

8:23 AM

The young man's brow furrowed as he killed the motor on his bike and shoved the kickstand into place. He could not remember ever arriving at Mount Justice's garage without someone responding.

Maybe he was the first to arrive… but that was odd too given that M'gann, Connor and Red all lived in the facility.

Ever cautious, he took in his surroundings. Red's tools were on his pegboard. The truck that Connor was always tinkering with was still in pieces. The bioship lay resting in its dock. Where was Sphere?

Despite the absence of Conner’s dedicated sentient vehicle, everything seemed…normal.

So why was he on edge?

He dismounted his bike and made his way out of the garage, into the training area.

The lights were already on as he entered… a fact that added to the general oddness of the situation since they were motion controlled. He moved forward toward the kitchenette area where the team would meet to eat and joke around. He moved silently, despite the cavernous size of the room, his footsteps made no sound.

Opening the refrigerator, he found M'gann's vegetable platters, and Conner's pizzas. He reached in and pulled out a can of cola.

The air rippled slightly to his right, but giving no indication that he had noticed, the young man continued to move toward the stairs that led to the living quarters. "Yo, Connor? You up yet?"

Silence was his only answer. "Get up you lazy bum!" he shouted, as underneath the cape that covered his shoulders he gave the soda a few rapid shakes.

With a single smooth move, he opened the can, causing it to spray violently, revealing the cloaked form moving to aim its weapon.

The man known as Robin drew his collapsible staff from his belt, expanding it to its full length as he did so. The natural swing of the staff hit the dripping silhouette upside the head, dropping the nearly invisible man to his knees. Robin did not pause, swinging into the now kneeling man with another stroke.

MOVE! His training screamed as he rolled to his right as the beam of a pulse weapon passed through the space he had inhabited. His left hand sought his belt and pulled a handful of small spheres, tossing them along the vector the beam had come. He closed his eyes and waited. The flash bangs did their jobs and Robin was sprinting toward the garage, tapping the back of his left glove as he did so. He heard his bike startup, its defensive systems coming online.

He'd taken two out, but there would be more. If they had taken Connor and M'gann… He had to move, put distance between himself and those chasing him. Distance was his friend.

His bike had already turned itself 180 degrees so that it was facing the garage exit. Robin leaped onto the seat and kicked the bike into gear even before he hit the overrides for the doors. More beams… two maybe three. He hit the access to the shore highway at 80 mph as the beams stopped and bullets replaced them.

Whoever these people were, they were not playing nice any longer.

They had mounted a pursuit, but as long as they did not have airpower, he was not worried.

Then he saw that what they had was worse than airpower. They had a flier. The flying man was following him at height, beyond the reach of his weapons. Weaving in and out of traffic, Robin forced the flier to keep his distance. They didn't want a scene then? Good, he could use that.

That was when a fist hit him on the right side of his head.

Robin swerved the bike wildly, trying to see who had hit him. He had been tagged pretty well, but he had been hit a lot harder before. It would take more than a single cheap shot to…

There. They had a speedster? Then he saw the runner's eyes. Wonderful, a Velocity 9 freak. He hated fighting metas. It always got messy.

"You think you're fast Bird Boy?" the runner screamed over the sounds of his own speed. "Let me show you fast!"

Robin took another shot to his head and shook it off. His left hand found the tee-handle of his grapple. This would never work against Wally, but Velocity 9 gave its users speed, not the awareness to go with it. The gas-powered grapple drove itself into the pavement, anchoring the speed freak's right foot to the asphalt.

Imagining he could hear the man's leg snap, Robin gunned his bike into more speed. His only safety from the flier would be buildings. Half a mile to go.

---oooOooo---

Happy Harbor's Welcome sign was well to his rear when Robin reached the first of the town's multi-story buildings. He hit the release on his cape letting it flutter away. Part of him wished the flier would swoop down and pick it up. The chemical destruct matrix would give him a nice little surprise.

The mask and gloves went next. They too would dissolve to nothing; the electronics in the gloves sparked as they hit the roadway, and screamed an electronic death rattle as they did so.

A hidden switch caused the bike to change from black with a stylized red trim to a plain dirty white. He was going to miss the bike, he had only had this one a month, and it was a dream. But it was better to abandon the bike than to end up captured because of it.

He pulled into an alley, and leaped from the bike, shedding his tunic as he did so. He popped the hidden collar of his under shirt out so that it now appeared to be a black rugby shirt, a pair of black gloves and a pair of shades completed his disguise from his disguise.

"Not bad kid," a man said. "Really good to tell you the truth. You almost lost me a couple of times."

Robin turned to face the flier. Metas tended to have specific powersets. As a rule, fliers did not tend to be faux-Kryptonians, despite the cape this one wore. "You know who I am and who I work with," Robin said in a threatening monotone. He had not worked with the Batman this long without learning a few things. "Do you think you're the first Superman wanna be I've faced? Do yourself a favor and take off. Take the bike, it will make your boss happy. Half a mill in the electronics alone."

"Oh, I’m taking the bike alright," the flier said, running his hand down the frame, a smile on his face as he imagined the payday just as Robin had intended. "My team is ten minutes out, and you're staying here."

"Ten minutes?" Robin asked. "Good to know." The bike exploded when the still active defensive systems determined that the one touching it was not authorized, the shape charges ensuring the explosion erupted from the frame at either side. Right into the flier.

Robin made his way to the fallen Meta. "I'll be leaving now. If you're smart, you'll turn yourself in to the police and tell them where the rest of my team is. If I have to find them myself, I'll come looking for you." He reached down and pulled the injured man to his eye level. "There's a reason Metas don't operate openly in Gotham. This is me, caught unprepared. I shredded your weapons people, I disabled your speed freak, and I've taken you out without raising a sweat. If I have to come looking for you, I'll be ready. Think about that. I'll be ready for you . You aren't ready for the big leagues, flyboy."

The man known as Robin allowed the flier to fall to the ground, exited the alley, and vanished into the crowds of Happy Harbor.

---oooOooo---

Justice League Watchtower

August 3rd

10:15 AM

"Excellent evasion," the big man in blue said after listening to Robin's report.

"You made a few mistakes, but given the end result, acceptable," Batman corrected, offering the only opinion among the League that Robin really valued. He knew his mentor was right. He had made mistakes and gotten lucky.

"You're too hard on the boy, Batman," Flash said with a shake of his head. "My concern is that this is an obvious ploy. We've confirmed that the entire rest of the team is unaccounted for. Are we really to believe that Robin, with no powers was the only one not taken?"

The sixteen year old silently bristled, wanting nothing more than to teach the speedster what someone with no powers could do.

"Robin wasn't taken because they underestimated him, the same as you are doing now Flash," Black Canary said in a dismissive tone. "I'm responsible for the team's physical combat training, and I've sparred with all of them as you well know. When our training started, I could win against any of them consistently. Now, they've all improved but the only ones able to give me any consistent competition are Artemis, who appears to have put up the biggest fight of those captured, and Robin. Robin didn't get away because they let him. He got away because they underestimated him and did have the assets in place to stop him. You've trained him well Batman."

"How I got away isn't important. What is important is that someone has my friends. We need to get them back, now." Robin insisted.

"Superboy and Ms. Martian were taken from Mount Justice," Batman said in a low monotone. "There were traces of a synthetic kryptonite compound found in Superboy's room. Evidence of multiple intruders in Ms. Martian's room, and the room was all but destroyed in the struggle. We believe they had a telepath on hand to assist in subduing her. Aqualad was taken from the beach outside the mountain as he emerged from the sea. We found residue of multiple dehydration weapons there. Artemis was taken from her home, but not before she damaged at least four of her attackers and Kid Flash from his. His attackers captured and threatened his family so that Kid Flash had no choice other than to surrender."

"Zatanna was taken between shows in Las Vegas. No one noticed a thing until she didn't show up for her 3 o' Clock performance," Black Canary continued. "And Rocket was taken when she and Icon were ambushed on the outskirts of Dakota City. Icon defeated their attackers, but not before Rocket was teleported away."

"And their families?" Robin insisted trying not to think what might have happened to Wally.

Understandably upset," Wonder Woman supplied. "But physically unharmed and relocated to safe houses. We believe the entire team was taken alive."

"I've been to Mount Justice and the West home," Elongated man said, his nose twitching the way it did when he was in the midst of an investigation. "Whoever is behind this used a lot of ordnance. I've identified most of the residue to be from Lexcorp tech."

"We will get them back," Superman assured Robin, his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You've been through a lot, why don't you take it easy and leave it to us?"

"I'm fine," Robin said, shaking off the comforting hand. "I want to help get my friends back."

"Things have gotten serious, kid," Green Arrow noted.

"It's time you let the Adults handle this," Flash said condescendingly. "Be a good sidekick and head home."

A cold fury consumed Robin for a moment, and then the boy seemed to calm himself. "I would remind you that the last time 'things got serious' it was when you were all under the control of the Light, and we sidekicks saved all your asses," He looked Flash in the eye. "Some of us fought some of you to a draw, and in the end, we won."

"That was different!" Flash protested but the boy was no longer paying any attention.

"What's it going to be Batman?" the boy was now standing in front of his mentor looking up into the man's grim visage. "I thought we had a deal, you and I. Am I your partner or am I your sidekick?"

"That's enough," the Dark Knight said. "Go home, cool off."

The pair locked eyes for several seconds until the boy nodded and without a word left the room for the Zeta chamber.

"That," the Martian Manhunter noted, "was a mistake."

"We can't be taking children into a fight with Luthor," Superman insisted.

"Perhaps not," Wonder Woman interjected. "But none of the Team has truly been children for a while. Perhaps that one especially."

"Some of the League has forgotten what it's like to be a teenager," Batman said.

"But you supported them," Diana nodded toward Arrow and Flash as the pair exited the conference room.

"They were following Superman's lead, just as we all do," Batman pointed out.

"And I am right in this. Luthor is dangerous, far more so than the opponents the Team usually face," the Kryptonian insisted.

"Different than those they normally face, perhaps," Diana of Themiscyra disagreed. "They risk death every time they go out on any of the missions we assign them. As any warrior knows, death is death. After all, as Robin pointed out, he has faced us, faced his own mentor, and won. Together with Superboy, someone with a fraction of your power, he beat you Clark. What could Luthor possible do that would be worse than the time we tried to kill him?"

"His mind was in an emotional turmoil when he left," the Martian Manhunter reported. "I do not know what he is going to do."

"He is going to avoid me for a while," Batman predicted. "Most likely he's headed for the headquarters he set up for himself in Bludhaven that he doesn't think I know about. Batgirl calls it 'Robin's Nest'. From there he will use his hacking skills to find out what he can. He will contact us to rub our noses in the fact that he found something we could not. Then he'll petition to join us on the assault to retrieve the team."

"And we will say yes," Canary said simply, "assuming we don't find them first."

"On it," Ralph Dibny said as he left the room.

"As am I" the Martain Manhunter agreed as he followed.

"I'm against this," Superman protested. "He's just a boy."

"A boy who defeated both you and me, Clark," Bruce pointed out, "with a little help from his friends."

---oooOooo---

"Hello boys," Flash and Green Arrow were startled to find that Black Canary had joined them at their table in the cafeteria, with Batman standing behind her, his mouth set to a firm line. "Never tell Robin that things are suddenly serious or that he should leave it adults again."

"Or?" Oliver Queen asked.

"Or next time," Batman said, "I don't call him off."

"Is that supposed to frighten me Bats?" the archer smiled.

"Does the idea of fighting me appeal to you Oliver?" the Dark Knight asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Queen asked.

"You and I have fought Oliver," Dinah Lance said, "and I've fought Robin. If the two of you sparred, you would win every time."

"Of course I would," Green Arrow said, smiling widely in the face of the Batman.

"If you made him angry, however," Black Canary continued, "if he stopped following the rules of the sparing match, and started to actually fight, he would wipe the floor with you. He is very well trained, very disciplined. It takes quite a bit to make him angry. You managed it with only five words. He knows how to fight weapons users like you. His first move would be to disable your bow…" her left hand shot out across the table, before Oliver Queen could react his bow clattered to the floor with its bowstring in pieces. "Where I had to work to break your bowstring, Robin has blades in his gloves. Then he would disable your arrows, probably with something out of his belt."

"He would take the arrows first," Batman growled. "A pellet of fast expanding epoxy into your quiver would do it, or if you really made him angry, a handful of flash bangs ought to set off most of your explosive arrows. You are good Oliver. Very good. Possibly the very best weapons fighter the League has. I've trained Robin to fight weapons users and used you as the model. Train to fight the best, the rest are easy. He would destroy you."

Oliver Queen's mouth hung open at the idea that a sixteen year old could take him in a fight, his expression changed to a grimace when he noticed Barry Allen's wide grin.

"Don't be too pleased with yourself either, Barry," Bruce Wayne growled. "Since Velocity 9 has become so readily available, Robin has also trained against Speedsters…"

"I know he and Wally spar, Bruce," Barry said condescendingly.

"And I always train to fight the second best," Batman said as he turned away, shaking his head. "You know me so well, Barry."

---oooOooo---

Wayne Manor

Gotham City

August 3rd

1:19 PM

"Good afternoon, Master Dick," Alfred Pennyworth said as he entered the young man's bedroom. "I didn't expect you to be home today. Packing for a trip?"

"I don't know how long I'll be gone Alfred," Dick said hesitantly. "There was an incident in Happy Harbor, and Bruce, he… Our partnership is dissolved."

"Oh, dear," the old man said, sitting down in his shock. "The partnership break is irreconcilable? I only ask because of the… humanizing effect you have had on Master Bruce over the years."

"Jason is ready," Dick said as he continued to pack, "And Barbara is more than ready. Between the two of them, they'll keep Bruce grounded. Besides," he said with a grin," it's been getting harder to pull of the laughing 'boy wonder' routine every day."

"Quite," Alfred agreed. "So, you've moving to your own headquarters, at least for a while?"

"Yeah," Dick nodded.

"Master Bruce knows about your 'Nest'."

"Of course he knows," Dick laughed. "It was setup specifically so that he would know about it. I've arranged for someone to take up residence to keep Bruce's sensor suite occupied so that I can do what I need to do without his interference."

"So, you are Robin no more?" Alfred nodded. "Good, it is high time that you established your own identity. And if I must say so, the new uniform looks much better on you. The young ladies will love it."

"Matchmaking Alfred?" Dick asked.

"Indeed," the Gentleman's Gentleman agreed. "I have all but given up on Master Bruce providing me with the next generation of the Wayne family to care for; I am depending on you to produce more Graysons so that I might have something to do in my dotage."

"Thanks Alfred," Dick said, "For everything."

"Don't speak like this is goodbye forever," Pennyworth said, pulling the young man into a fatherly hug. "Master Bruce will come to understand his errors, even if they must be beaten into him. Pain has always been his best teacher."

---oooOooo---

Happy Harbor Police Station

Happy Harbor, RI

August 3rd

4:45 PM

Jake Strauss fidgeted in his chair. He had woken from what the boy wonder had done to him to find a pair of uniformed police standing over him with their weapons drawn. It was the spandex he wore coupled with the smoking residue of the boy's motorcycle that did it. Cops institutionally hated metas, a lesson he had learned before, and a special hatred existed for a meta who wore villain's colors.

Strauss had found it odd that as soon as the paramedics had finished fixing his injuries and had performed a Fox-Infantino index test on his abilities he had been hustled into this windowless room and left to stew. They had not even questioned him.

That did not bode well. Each moment that passed had him considering the boy's words back in the alley. Did he really want that little psycho after him? He had seen what Robin had done to Clearwater on the highway outside of their little clubhouse.

What would the boy do to him?

The door opened. Strauss found himself holding his breath.

"Thank you officer," the large man in blue said as he stepped into the room.

Strauss looked up into what was quite possibly the most famous face in the world, and felt a sense of… relief.

"I've got nothing to say."

"That's too bad really," Superman said sitting down across from Strauss. "You understand that you have been implicated in multiple kidnappings of minors, right? In this state, that's a life sentence for each instance."

"Nothing to say."

"You know who I am, you know what I can do," the Kryptonian said reasonably. "I know who you are, and I know at least part of what you've done. I also know who injured you."

Strauss just stared straight ahead.

"Your friend with the taste for Velocity 9 will likely never walk again," Superman said conversationally. "The surgeons are doing their best, but they tell me that there is just too much damage to his hips for them to hold out much hope. The investigation on that is all but done, dozens of witnesses all describing what happened. Robin is going to be ruled justified in his actions. For what he did to you as well. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll see to it that you aren't charged for the kidnappings, just simple assault."

"I have nothing to say."

"Alright," Superman shrugged and stood up. "I tried."

"Time for the bad cop now?" Strauss snarked.

The Kyptonian just smiled and exited the room.

---oooOooo---

"You're up," Superman said as he entered the monitor room.

"You just wasted five minutes of my time," Batman growled as he headed for the interrogation room.

Superman smiled and shook his head. "Batman likes to go first. However, when he does, no one ever needs to go second. I'm trying to become a better interrogator."

"I never thought he was real," Happy Harbor's Chief of Police said. "I mean, sure, everyone knows you, but him…"

"Batman likes his aura of mystery," Superman admitted.

The pair watched as the man in the dark cowl and cape entered the room and stood in front of the prisoner, neither of them saying a thing.

"So, he's a cape, like you, right?" the Chief asked.

"Well, Batman isn't really like anyone. He wears a cape…"

The pair watched for several seconds as the Batman continued to stand staring at Strauss.

"So, what are his powers? The reports out of Gotham are… thin at best." The Chief asked, continuing his questioning. "Is he a mind reader?"

"I wonder sometimes, but no," Superman shook his head. "He doesn't have any powers. Batman is a completely normal human being, and is rather proud of that fact. Everything he does is the product of skill and training."

"And you still let him in your club?"

"We didn't 'let him in', we almost had to beg him to join," Superman admitted. "He doesn't like leaving Gotham, and for good reason, but sometimes we need him more than his city does."

---oooOooo---

After five minutes, Strauss could not take the silence any more. "If you're the bad cop, you're doing it wrong."

"I'm not a cop," Batman growled. "Where did you take the children?"

"I have nothing to say."

"You and your team attacked my partner," the Batman observed. "He gave one of your stealth team a concussion, he deafened the other one. He crippled your Velocity 9 Freak, and he almost killed you. Some people say that Robin being my partner is what keeps me sane, and that if I lost him, who knows what I might do. You attacked my partner, now you are going to answer my questions."

"I don't have to say a word. I have Rights!"

"Believe me, I know all about your Rights," the Dark Knight leaned forward until he was almost nose to nose with the meta. "Sometimes, I count them, just to make myself a little crazy. Where did your team take the children you captured?"

---oooOooo---

The Police Chief's jaw dropped when Strauss began babbling, explaining he didn't know the plan, he was just along to deal with any runners, that he hadn't been brought into the plans, that he didn't know anything."

"How did he do that?"

"I wish I knew," Superman admitted. "I really do."

"He does this a lot?" The Chief asked.

"All the time."

"No wonder you wanted him."

"We didn't know he could do that," Superman laughed, "until well after we recruited him. It's very annoying, with everything I can do, what we all can do, we can't do that, basically because no one is frightened of us. I don't really want people to fear me, but it would really make my day if, just once, one of the villains were just a little frightened by my powers."

"They're not?" the policeman asked incredulously. "If you were after me, I'd…"

"That's what I always thought too," Superman admitted. "But no, the Villain community sees me as, well, a boy scout. They respect my strength, my powers, but they don't fear me. He," the Kryptonian pointed through the one way mirror at the man in the bat motif, "terrifies them. He knows and cultivates it. It's true you know, you always want what you don't have."

---oooOooo---

Lexcorp World Headquarters

Metropolis

August 3rd

5:49 PM

"Well," the Billionaire said leaning back in his chair, "is there anything else I should be concerned about.

"Lex," Mercy said from her security position, before nodding toward the window behind Luthor. Lex swiveled in his chair to find Superman hovering outside his window in a standing position, his arms crossed.

"I see. Everyone out."

"Should I stay, Lex?" Mercy asked.

"No need Mercy," Luthor answered, his eyes narrowing as he manipulated the controls that caused his 95th floor windows to slide open.

"You should be honored Alien," Luthor snarked. "I had these installed just for you."

"Imagine how much it feeds my ego Lex."

"What do you want?"

"A team of young heroes were abducted today," Superman said in measured tones. "Including the young man who shares our DNA."

"The so-called 'Superboy' has rejected me," Luthor sneered, "choosing you over me. Why should I care if you lost some of your followers?"

"Lexcorp equipment was found at the site of each of the abductions," Superman noted. "As well as a rather fascinating synthetic Kryptonite, something that would take a genius of your caliber to develop."

"By sheer coincidence," Lex said pulling a folder off his desk, "I had a rash of thefts from several of my facilities. I wouldn't be surprised if the equipment you found were on this list,., and I can't imagine what anyone would want with a synthetic Kryptonite."

"Your list of stolen property matching the evidence found at the scene wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, Lex. I just thought that I should stop by and warn you."

"Warn me?"

"Well, yes," the Alien nodded. "This time it's not just me. Those kids are the protégés of some very serious people. If they don't understand how you are, of course completely innocent, you may well become the focus of their undivided attention. I mean, Arthur is a King of a vast empire, Jon is the Ambassador to Earth from Mars, Icon is most concerned about his friend Rocket, Green Arrow is a most… driven individual, Zantanna , as you well know is the daughter of the man who is the current Dr. Fate and Flash… well he could be anywhere at any time looking for his sidekick. Anywhere… Did you know he is capable of time travel under his own power?"

Luthor had heard that, but had discounted it as an impossibility. To have the information offered in such an off-handed manner…

"Of course, Superman said with a small smile, "none of them are as concerning as the Batman. He is rather upset, and with all that Lexcorp technology at the scene… well, his focus is pretty much complete."

"As if I care what some loon who dresses like a bat thinks," the billionaire sneered.

"You're right, Lex. What do you care?"

Luthor stood and watched as the Kryptonian effortlessly flew away.

---oooOooo---

Jason Todd's Bedroom

August 3rd

10:23 PM

"Jason?"

Twelve year old Jason Todd blinked awake; reflexes he had been working hard to gain had him on his feet ready to defend himself.

"Nice," the intruder in his room said. Jason could hear the smile in the voice.

"Robin?" he asked, reaching for the light switch.

"Not anymore," Dick Grayson said with a wry grin. "Batman has been hanging out with the league too long and has forgotten that we've always been partners. He's decided to treat me like an obedient sidekick instead. I'm out."

"Ouch."

"Yeah," Dick nodded. "I know you are training to take my place, and well, Jason, Bruce needs a partner."

"I'm not…" Jason protested.

"You are," Dick laughed, "and you're pretty good, better than I was at your age." The sixteen year old reached for the backpack slung over his left shoulder and put it on the bed. "These are some of my older uniforms. They're yours, when you're ready; you'll make them your own."

"What are you going to do? Are you quitting completely? Bruce is going to go right over the edge."

"Not, entirely," Dick smiled, again. "I've seen this coming for a while. I've made arrangements."

"Ok," Jason said, sitting down on his bed. "So, what's going on anyway?"

"Luthor hit the Team," Dick said, a haunted expression crossed his features, "hit us all. I'm the only one who made it out."

"Shit," Jason said, the profanity sounding foreign coming from him.

"Watch the language," Dick scolded. "Things like that will make Bruce freak completely out. Trust me."

"Yeah," Jason nodded, having already received one of Bruce's lectures. "So what are we going to do?"

" We , aren't doing anything," Dick said sternly. "I, on the other hand, am going to get my team back. Until you hear from me, don't even think about putting on that outfit. I will not have them snatching you thinking you're me."

"You think you can stop me?" Jason sniffed. "You've already admitted that I'm better than you."

"You're a bit better than I was at twelve," Dick grinned. "Me? I'm a whole lot better than I was at twelve. If you set one foot outside wearing a mask, I'll break both your legs."

"Ok, ok," Jason laughed, and then he took on a solemn expression. "Dick, I can do the Robin thing, but I can't do the hacking stuff you do."

Dick reached out and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Don't worry about it kid, Batman is going to have a new Tech Geek. Just remember the deal; you work with Batman, not for him. Robin is nobody's sidekick."

---oooOooo---

Barbara Gordon's Bedroom

Gotham City

August 4th

12:20 AM

"Quit skulking in the shadows and come in," she said as she closed her calculus text

"Hello Barbara."

Barbara Gordon raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how Daddy would react to finding out Dick Grayson climbing through my window in the middle of the night. Then again, he probably wouldn't be wild about Robin doing it either."

"Oh," she said when she saw his expression. "You've done it then?"

"Started," Dick admitted.

"What happened?"

"The team was taken."

"Except for you," she nodded.

A smile quirked at his lips. "Thank you for not being surprised."

"You've always been the best of them Dick," she said with her own grin. "I know I've only met them twice, but the ones with powers…"

"Those are my friends you're talking about," he said warningly.

"They're good people," she protested, "but they don't have to try as hard, and they know it. Do you know who did it?"

"Luthor. The League traced it back to him from residue of the snatch sites, they all led to him through a forest of front companies."

"And the League?"

"They say they'll handle it, and I should go home and be a good boy, the literal words out of Flash's mouth," Dick paused for a moment, "Bruce just stood there when he said it, and didn't say a word, so I asked him, was I his partner or his sidekick."

"And he told you to go home," Barbara nodded. "Have you told Alfred?"

"Yeah. Look, what I came by for is to ask you to stay out of sight for a while, until this is taken care of."

"I’m not hiding," she protested.

"And I'm not asking you to," Dick said soothingly, "I'm asking you not to offer another target for Luthor and his snatch teams. And I want you to consider taking over as Bruce's tech geek."

"Does he really need the help?"

"When I was ten, he had this antique mainframe in the cave," Dick smiled at the memory. "No security, no remote access, only rudimentary search functions, matching a fingerprint took two days. It had a placard on it that said 'Bat Computer'. He tries, but computers aren't really part of his mission. Yeah, he needs help."

"Ok, I'll think about it," she grinned again. "He hates me in my uniform."

"He'll get over it. He thinks he owns the bat motif."

In a single smooth motion, Barbara flowed to Dick's side, took his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly. "The new outfit looks better on you anyway. Be careful."

"Always," Dick hesitated, "Barbara… thanks."

"Oh, get out of here!" she responded pushing him away.

"I'm gone," Dick said as he made his way to the window.

"Dick?" the redhead called.

He stopped halfway out the window, "Yeah?"

"Kick Luthor's ass," she said forcefully, "Hard. Make sure he knows he should stick to annoying invulnerable aliens."

"That's the plan," Dick said as he vanished into the night.

---oooOooo---

Lexcorp World Headquarters

Metropolis

August 4th

4:13 AM

The wind rushed past his body as he hit the releases on the balloon harness. Dick fell the five feet to the roof, landing silently, and freezing in place.

He waited unmoving for a reaction, any reaction from the defenses he knew the building must have.

5 seconds.

10 seconds.

30 seconds.

Nothing. That was odd. Why no reaction? Surely Luthor would have some sort of security.

Deciding that he had to know one way or the other, Dick decided to activate his own sensor suite. His fingers danced across his left forearm, reading the display projected into his eyes.

There. There were sensors, but they were calibrated for Kryptonians. He had nowhere near the body density to trigger the security systems. A small smile played across his lips. It appeared that Luthor had some large blind spots.

Blind spots were good. He could use them.

His new uniform was performing perfectly, so far. Everything was telling him to progress with his dual mission of testing the suit and teach Luthor his lesson. He decided to chance discovery and started his infiltration subsystem. Activating his computer system, he started a search for wireless access. Finding none, not that that was surprising, Dick approached the rooftop access for the helipad. Opening the cabinet, he was unsurprised to find network access within. From his belt, he withdrew a cable, and plugged it in to the network port.

Breaking the network security was suspiciously easy. Dick's mouth set to a firm line as he probed deeper. As he suspected, it was a trap. A quick search found the Security hierarchy, along with the protected accounts.

A few moments allowed him to break the passwords, and he found himself with Admin privileges. Luthor was spectacularly unimaginative in his passwords. The door lock on the roof access clicked as it unlocked. Dick nodded to himself as he setup the subroutine in the digital video system that would edit his image out of the building's video feed. It was time to go hunting.

He slid through the door into the darkness of the stairwell. The time he had spent today accessing everything the League had on Luthor had not gone to waste. Now, he had just two goals for the night. First, he needed to find and get physical access to the building's mainframe. This would ensure his ability to remotely access the machine and its associated systems. Then, he had to find her. That was the key to Luthor's weak points.

Luthor needed to be shown the cost of his actions today.

---oooOooo---

Leaving the Nest
Reality

Lexcorp World Headquarters

Metropolis

August 4th

9:00 AM

“Status report,” The billionaire demanded of the person on the other end of the phone line. After the Kryptonian's visit the day before, it had taken all of Luthor's rather formidable will not to reach out to his contractor for a status report before the agreed upon time.

“Partial success Mr. Luthor,” the underling responded. “We successfully acquired seven of the eight packages.”

That gave Luthor pause. He most specifically did not like ‘partial’ successes. Every time he had started an operation with a ‘partial’ success, he had ended up regretting the entire idea, usually at the hands of that damned alien.

“And which of the packages are we missing?” he asked coolly.

“The Gotham City pickups were particularly difficult,” his underling responded. "The Greek Hunter statue was unfortunately damaged in the pickup, and the Bird just didn't stay where it was supposed to be.

Of all the possibilities, he had not expected this one. The youngest and by all expectations least powerful of the targets had escaped? How was that possible?

“What was the problem with the pickup? Was the package not ready?” He asked.

The man on the other side hesitated, something that Luthor’s experience warned him that he was not likely to like the answer. “We arrived for the delivery on schedule, and the package was there, but before the actual pickup, the package… disappeared. The five of the pickup crew were…” again the man hesitated, "injured in the confusion. The local police unfortunately ticketed them when they found that crew's… paperwork was not in order. The four who picked up the Greek Hunter were also injured, but they did not encounter the police."

“I see," Luthor said, internally seething at the news. Sportmaster had laughed at the idea that one of his daughters could be picked up without cost. "Well, proceed with the rest of the shipment. I would like them unpacked and an inventory of their contents as soon as possible. See to the Greek Hunter's repair. We will have to re-order a replacement of the Bird from Gotham.”

“Yes sir,” the minion said, the relief evident in his voice.

Luthor hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. How unexpected. If any of the children had escaped his trap, he would have expected it to be the clone, the Martian, or the speedster. How could a child, a mere acrobat possibly have…

His personal cell phone rang, startling the billionaire. Not just because he never received incoming calls, in truth he had received exactly two incoming calls in all the years he had carried a personal phone. No the truly startling thing was the ringtone. Lex Luthor was not one of those who had complex musical alerts of an incoming call.

He had specifically recorded the sound of an old style bell ring tone for installation into his personal phone.

The ring tone playing in his vest pocket was a four note childlike chuckle. The calling card of the boy known as Robin.

Luthor retrieved the phone from his pocket. He grimaced at the image of a masked Smiley face winking and sticking its tongue out at him, pushed the button that would start the trace, and then answered. “Luthor.”

“Hi ya Lex,” a child’s voice responded. “Man, I’ve gotta tell you, your security sucks.”

“Who is this?” Luthor asked.

“You know perfectly well who I am Lex, not that your little trace is going to do you any good… If I can’t deflect it, I’ll be gone three seconds before you hit the last relay,” the boy answered mockingly.

“Look…” Luthor began.

“Man,” the boy interrupted, “I wasn’t joking before, your security is really horrible. Hey, I’ll help you find out who designed your security protocols so you can fire the loser.”

Luthor was speechless as his monitor suddenly turned its self on. “I’m sharing my screen with you…” the boy said unnecessarily. The monitor screen filled with the security logon and Luthor stared open mouthed as the password field populated followed almost instantly with a cartoon image of his nemesis’ face in the place of each masked character. In four seconds, the billionaire gaped as his encryption was broken.

“Man, you just don’t see 256 bit two dimensional encryption anymore,” Lexcorp’s personnel records began scrolling. "Let’s see now, what clueless schmuck did your network security?” The boy murmured as the screen scrolled before it stopped with a single name highlighted.

"Oh, Lex… Dude, you roll your own? Seriously? I thought you were supposed to be good…”

“What do you want?” Luthor demanded while planning the painful punishment he would personally inflict on the child once the boy was captured.

“I want my friends back,” the boy said simply, all of the childishness gone from his voice. “I want them back, now, unharmed, undamaged, and with their memories and personalities intact.”

“What makes you think I know where they are?” Luthor demanded while checking the progress of his trace.

“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer Lex,” the boy sneered. “I can cripple your entire company for months if not years, wiping out your entire source of legitimate income. This is me, slightly miffed. If you’ve hurt my friends, I’ll be angry, and trust me when I tell you that you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

“Look boy, I don’t know who you think you’re…”

“I’m starting to think that facing off against the Boy Scout all these years has turned you soft Lex.”

“What?” Luthor sputtered.

“Don’t get me wrong, Superman is a great guy, but he’s soft. He goes easy on his opponents, and you don’t understand what it means to face off against someone potentially as… human as you are.”

“Look boy…” Luthor’s eyes focused on the monitor displaying the trace results. “I’ve got you!”

“Oh, your cute little trace? Have you looked to see what you’ve found?” the boy asked laughing again.

Luthor frowned, and performed the keystrokes needed to get a visual of the location of the trace. His eyes widened and his left hand gripped the phone even tighter.

“Yeah,” the boy chuckled, laughing at him. Laughing at Lex Luthor. “You found the hideout I use in your bedroom. Sure, the commute is hell, but man, the view from your penthouse is spectacular. Don’t mess with me, Luthor, I want my friends back. You’ve had them for a day, so I'll be generous, you can have 24 hours to have them back to me. Call it 9:17 tomorrow morning.”

“Or what?” Luthor asked with a sneer.

“Or, I respond to you hurting people important to me by hurting someone important to you,” the boy responded in a cold voice. “I do hope you kissed adorable little Lena goodbye this morning.”

Luthor pulled the phone from his ear to stare at its display that was now showing loss of signal.

“Mercy!” he screamed.

---oooOooo---

The transit time from Luthor’s Lexcorp office to his penthouse apartment was less than four minutes.

Perhaps the longest minutes of Lex Luthor’s life. Mercy could not establish communications with any of the four Nannies on duty, and upon arriving at the penthouse Luthor discovered why, the four Mercy class human-form robots were utterly destroyed and there was no sign of his daughter. That damned boy had his precious Lena. It was all that Luthor could do not to scream his fury in front of the security troops.

“Lex?” Mercy called. “In here.”

Lex rushed into his study to find his prime bodyguard holding a sheet of paper. He snatched it from her hands and took in the embossed stylized R that denoted the boy’s hero name.

Lex,

I trust I’ve made my point? You now have less than a day.

R

Luthor grimaced as he handed the letter back to Mercy. “I want that paper analyzed; I want to know where it was made and who it was sold to.”

The paper burst into flames in Mercy’s hand, destroying the precious evidence.

The boyish chuckle ringtone sounded again.

Luthor fumbled with the phone. “Where is she?”

“Like I said Luthor,” the boy’s voice sounded in his ear. “You’ve gone soft. I’d hurry if I were you.”

---oooOooo---

Wayne Manor

Gotham City

August 4th

9:36 AM

"Master Bruce?" the older man said as his employer entered the room.

"Dick isn't here is he?"

"Master Dick was here yesterday afternoon, with a distressing tale of broken agreements," Alfred said sadly. "He packed for an extended stay and left. He was not forthcoming about where he would be staying."

"He's at his Bludhaven hideout," Bruce nodded. "The one he thinks I don't know about. The motion sensors are showing him working off his anger through exercise."

"You seem satisfied," Alfred noted.

"Not satisfied," Wayne said with a shake of his head, "Satisfaction would mean I was happy with the status quo. I'd hoped Dick would have learned to avoid predictable patterns. He hasn't so I can predict what he's going to do."

Wayne slumped into an easy chair. "He's furious with me, believing that I didn't support him. He doesn't understand that the Justice League achieves what it does through consensus, and that as long as Superman leads, the rest of us will follow."

"Except for when you don't, Master Bruce," Alfred pointed out as he exited the room. "You forget I follow your exploits quite closely. You bully Superman into doing what you believe needs to be done with great frequency."

"Perhaps," the Billionaire admitted. "Still, in this particular case, Superman is, in his simplistic naïve way, right. Eventually, Dick will see that."

"If your situations were reversed, as they were when you were all enthralled by the Light," Alfred asked on his way out of the room, "would you have seen the light if Master Dick had allowed his team to convince him to leave you on the sidelines, Master Bruce?"

"This is hardly the same thing, Alfred," Wayne called after his surrogate father.

---oooOooo---

Lexcorp World Headquarters

Metropolis

August 4th

10:22 AM

Lex Luthor blinked in surprise as his computer froze.

That has never happened before. It wasn't supposed to be possible. But then, it wasn't supposed to be possible for his computers to be hacked either, but a child had shown that claim to be a lie. What this latest inconvenience attributable to the hack?

"Hello Mr. Luthor."

Lex looked up from his computer screen, startled beyond belief that someone whose voice he did not recognize could come to be standing behind him in his own office. Lex spun in his chair to face the speaker, his finger hitting the alarm that would bring Mercy running.

"The alarm isn't working," the man in red said quietly. "No, that's a lie. It's working perfectly, as is your computer, just not for you."

The man's voice was odd. It took him several heartbeats to realize why. There was an utter lack of sound in the room, other than the voice.

"I’m looking for my sidekick, and his friends," the hero said in his oddly echoing voice. "Rumor has it you might know something about it."

"As I told the alien," Luthor growled. "I have no idea what you're talking about. What have you done to me?"

"I just brought you into my frame of reference. Please remain seated, you would find trying to move in our current frame of reference to be a most unpleasant experience," the man in red said, his voice maintaining its odd echo. "I wanted to make sure we were undisturbed while we spoke."

"What do you want?"

"I want Kid Flash back," the man said simply. "And I think you can deliver him to me. I don't think you'd really appreciate it if I were to just go looking for him and his friends."

"I have nothing to hide," Luthor sneered.

"The amount of lead lining your walls suggest that you might not be entirely truthful there, Mr. Luthor," the Flash remarked conversationally. "Unlike Superman, there is quite literally nowhere I cannot go, and as I've proven, no one would ever know I had ever been there. Who knows what I might find while I'm looking for my sidekick?"

"You cannot come into my building and threaten me!" Luthor said, struggling to his feet in direct rejection of the advice the speedster had offered earlier, and immediately regretting it.

"I'm fairly sure," the Flash noted before he vanished from the Billionaire's office, "I just did."

Luthor gripped his desk as his office spun around him for an eternity. It was while he was messily losing his last meal all over his priceless carpeting that he realized what the speedster had meant by bringing him into the Flash's frame of reference.

Lex made a mental note to cancel his projects for giving someone superspeed as soon as he finished heaving.

---oooOooo---

Wayne Manor

Gotham City

August 4th

10:22 AM

Dear Bruce:

I believe we both know my resignation was submitted on the Watchtower yesterday. Thanks for everything you've taught me.

Don't worry, my Mission isn't finished either. See you in the field.

- Dick.

Wayne resisted the urge to crumple the letter in his hand. He had known that the League had angered his ward, but really hadn't expect the young man to go to this extent.

Bruce Wayne was many things, but delusional was not one of them. He was fully aware of how much he had come to depend upon Dick Grayson to maintain his grasp on his humanity. He needed his partner far more than the boy had ever needed him.

And now, his relationship with a group of adventurers he had resisted joining was threatening to break his one true partnership.

He was going to need to apologize. He looked across the cave to the workstation from which Dick usually worked, where now he could see the Robin's uniform draped.

He was going to need to do some damage control, and soon. A new uniform, perhaps. Or even a new Identity… It had not escaped his notice that Dick had been chafing at the 'Boy Wonder' image for a while. Perhaps something with a bat motif. If Gordon's daughter could be Batgirl, then Dick could be Bat… not boy but something.

Bruce turned to his computer and brought up the sensors in Robin's nest. No cameras, of course, Dick would have detected them in a heartbeat, but mass and motion sensors were easily disguised. He nodded to himself. His adopted son was working on the rings. That was typically how Dick worked off his frustrations.

Wayne shut down his monitoring of Dick Grayson and accessed the League database to see how the investigation was progressing.

An apology was needed, but as always, The Mission came first. Dick would understand.

---oooOooo---

Lexcorp World Headquarters

Metropolis

August 4th

1:17 PM

Dick's eyes drifted to the system clock and sighed. This had taken entirely too long, and despite rattling Luthor's cage, he was no closer to finding the rest of his team than when he started.

Still, he had managed to harvest an amazing amount of data from the billionaire's archives, and uncovered a weakness in his new uniform. He was going to have to upgrade the storage. During the design stage three terabytes sounded like more than he was ever likely to need. On his first time out, he had filled that to 98% capacity.

Poor planning annoyed him. Almost as much as the knowledge that what he was looking for was almost certainly somewhere in the data he had harvested, but due to its size, he had no way of analyzing the information until he got it off the suit and into a dedicated machine.

And that required finding his way out of Luthor's building.

His way in was, of course, no longer an option. His training had made him a creature of the night, but he knew how to operate in the light as well. He carefully plotted his path out of the dungeon like computer rooms, avoiding any concentrations of people. Each employee's access badge showed up on the scan as numbered flags. Dick smiled, if he didn't know better, he might have suspected that Luthor didn't really trust his people.

Two floors up, Dick found the locker room for Luthor's basement warehousing crew. It took opening six lockers before he found clothing that was a close enough fit, leaving behind more than enough cash to cover the trousers and shirt.

Exiting the building via the loading dock Dick vanished into the crowds of Metropolis making his way to his nearest safe house.

---oooOooo---

Justice League Watch Tower

Low Earth Orbit

August 4th

2:22 PM

"Batman was correct in his assessment that Robin would be conducting his own investigation," the Martian Manhunter, said as the last League member took his seat for the meeting.

The Dark Knight looked up in surprise at this announcement. "Robin is currently at a safe house he thinks I don't know about. I am unaware of any investigation he might be running, but he is not using any of my resources."

"His approach has apparently been far more direct than even you suspected,"J'onn J'onzz continued. "Luthor is utterly aware of some actions on Robin's part. For a baseline human, Luthor's mind is surprisingly disciplined and as a consequence, I have only gotten slivers of his surface thoughts, but the boy both infuriates and frightens him."

"Are you sure you aren't picking up his thoughts about me?" Superman asked. "I visited him when all of this started, and I'm certain that I infuriate him."

"And it might have been my visit," the Flash suggested. "I imbued Luthor with a bit of my speed in order to have a conversation with him without having to deal with his reaction forces, coming down from that would have been more than a little disconcerting."

"No," J'onzz said with no emotion. "I approached the Lexcorp building under my most extreme stealth mode well after Superman's visit and before that of the Flash. I did not approach close enough to actually hear the exchange, but the fury Luthor was directed toward Robin in particular was utterly clear in his mind. Evidently the boy called Luthor on the telephone to demand his teammates back as I came into range."

"Why didn't we think of that?" Oliver Queen snarked.

"When Luthor denied all knowledge of the abductions, Robin suggested that the years of dealing with Superman had made Luthor…" J'onzz hesitated before continuing, "soft."

"What?" Superman shouted, standing up so forcefully his chair was driven through the wall behind him.

The conference room filled with silence for several seconds until the Enlongated Man began to giggle, which drove Green Arrow into outright laughter.

"Luthor's fury at the suggestion that he lacked the ability to match wits with an unpowered human is the only reason I was able to pierce his defenses as much as I did," J'onzz continued, ignoring the laughter. "Then Robin said something that terrified the man. Fear had exactly the opposite effect on his mind that the anger did, blocking me off entirely. It appears your protégé has abilities we were unaware of Batman."

Ralph Digby, the Enlongated Man's nose began to twitch back and forth on his face, almost vibrating, "what could a 16 year old boy," he asked rhetorically, "possibly say to Lex Luthor that would frighten him?"

---oooOooo---

Dick Grayson's Safe House

Metropolis

Midtown

August 4th

5:00 PM

Dick's frustration grew. The sheer amount of data he had harvested from Luthor was a problem unto itself. His searches seemed to grind on and on seemingly forever, usually resulting in nothing of any use.

He set his mouth into a firm line, and reached for his Mountain Dew. Searching on his teammate's names had produced nothing. Their code names had produced nothing. Their powersets had produced hints that Luthor was working reproducing those abilities in 'volunteers'.

Purely out of desperation he started searching on the cities from which they had been abducted. On his fourth search, he got a hit.

It was only a hint. A possibility at best. But it was the best he had.

He pulled up the maps and started planning.

---oooOooo---

'Robin's Nest'

Bludhaven

August 4th

8:51 PM

The Batman eased his way into the loft his ward had purchased a little more than a year before via a disused roof access.

Alfred had questioned the wisdom of allowing Dick access to the trust his family's insurance payout had financed, but as far as Bruce Wayne was concerned, if a young man was mature enough to put his life on the line on Gotham's rooftops, he was mature enough to have access to money that was rightfully his.

Besides, Wayne had put the best financial planners in the city in charge of the Grayson trust and in the 10 years Dick had been with him, the value of the trust had quintupled.

The sensor web at the access was cheap, and apparently defective. He didn't even need to freeze the sensors to bypass it. He froze them anyway, but it wasn't really necessary. He taught Dick better than this.

Loud music assaulted his ears, music with a thumping bass that seemed to make the very walls vibrate in sympathy, the scent of pizza reached him. Something was wrong. Dick would eat the box it came in before he would eat microwave pizza. A large figure clad emerged from the kitchen area of the loft with a slice in his hand, and the Batman landed in front of him, his cape billowing.

"Whoa! Batman!" the large black youth wearing a Metropolis Knights' football jersey said, taking a step backwards, yet showing no fear. "Robin said you might stop by. He left something for you."

The youth turned away from the Dark Knight and returned without his pizza but with a white envelope. "Here it is," he said handing over the letter. "I'm Mal Duncan, sir, it's an honor to meet you."

The Batman regarded the envelope suspiciously. "How do you know Robin, Mr. Duncan?"

"I know some of his friends, Megan, and Conner mostly. They helped a lot when my girlfriend ended up with powers after working with Dr. Palmer at Pace University."

"Karen Beecher," The Batman nodded, putting the pieces together.

"That's her," Duncan nodded happily. "Robin called me yesterday and asked if I could house sit for a few days, and I said sure, I mean look at this place. I've been working out like crazy. I wasn't good enough in school to get a scholarship or anything, but the Knights are holding a walk on tryout next week, the equipment Robin's got here is better than any gym I could afford, so I jumped at the chance."

The Batman nodded again and opened the envelope, finding it held a simple note.

I'm pretty sure I resigned.

Even if I hadn't, did you really think I would set up a safe house as openly as this one and not expect you to know about it? You taught me better than that.

- Dick

Dick had spoofed him. He had thought that his ward hadn't learned to avoid patterns and it turned out he was the one hearing hoof beats and expecting zebras.

Well done, Dick, he said to himself. Now, what are you up to?

"Any more of that pizza, Mr. Duncan?"

---oooOooo---

Midvale Municipal Airport

Midvale

August 4th

11:19 PM

The plane taxied to a stop in front of a Lexcorp hanger, its engine still turning over. The hanger's doors opened and a marshaller used his lighted wands to guide the jet inside. As soon as the tail was inside the doors closed and the engines shut down.

The marshaller was joined by three more men when the plane's door opened, allowing the pilots to disembark.

"Let's go, we're on a schedule," the oldest of the pilots said as he inserted a key into a hidden panel, which opened to allow access to a coffin-like container. "We've got to get this package to Luthor." Before any of the crew could move, the lights in the hanger went out. They were in complete darkness for almost five seconds before the emergency lights flickered on.

"You know," a new voice broke in, drawing their attention to the man standing on top of the aircraft backlit by the yellow emergency lighting. "I'm almost insulted. You're transporting one of my people, and there are just six of you?" The black clad figure extended a collapsible staff in his right hand. "I don't suppose you're going to do the intelligent thing and run away?"

The five underlings wasted two full heartbeats looking to their leader before moving to draw their weapons. Before the first pistol cleared its holster, the man in black was among them, his staff a blur of motion. A forearm shattered, a kneecap followed suit. A femur fractured, then a concussion delivered by the whirling staff. One of the thugs managed to bring his weapon to bear, his finger tightening on the trigger before Dick knocked it away and shattered the shoulder behind the broken hand that had been holding the pistol.

"Ok Leaderman," Dick said as he pushed the only one of the six still conscious and capable to standing against the nearest wall, his staff firmly against the lacky's throat. "Where were you supposed to deliver your package?"

"I'm not sayin' nothing," the man said. "I want a lawyer."

"A lawyer?" Dick echoed. "Do I look like a cop? Do I look like Superman or any of the other duly deputized heroes of Metropolis? I don't care if you go to jail. I just want to know the answers to my questions." He pushed a bit harder on his staff, causing the man to choke. "Where were you supposed to deliver your package?"

---oooOooo---

Dick Grayson's Safe House

Metropolis

Midtown

August 5th

12:43 AM

Dick opened the container carefully and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she was still breathing. His gloved fingertips went to her throat to feel for her pulse, he nodded as the count came in at the normal range. He carefully disconnected the neural inhibitor keeping the girl unconscious from its power source and lifted her from the coffin-like transport container, laying her on the apartment's only bed.

It took almost four minutes for her to start to wake.

"Raquel," he whispered, trying to keep his voice soothing. "I know you're a little disoriented, and I know you're having trouble making your body move. You were put under a neural inhibitor, coming out from under its influence can take a while. Just relax and concentrate on small stuff. Try to wiggle your toes."

The girl moaned, Dick moved to the foot of the bed and pulled her boots off before starting to massage her feet, starting with the left and then the right.

"I know you've got the worst cotton mouth you've ever had, but I can't give you any water yet, you'll choke," Dick held one of her feet in each hand. "Raquel, try to wiggle your toes."

He felt a slight pressure against the palm of his left hand, "Ok, Raquel, that's good. Normally, coming out from an inhibitor it's about 5 minutes from the first toe wiggle to being able to talk, so we're on track. While you're recovering, let me fill you in on what's happened. You were taken about 40 hours ago, there was some problem moving you out of Dakota, which is why I managed to get into position to take you back."

The immobile girl seemed to consider this for a moment before suddenly her slack features took on an expression of panic. Again she moaned as she tried, and failed to form words.

Dick tried to think what would have her so upset, until he recalled speaking with Barbara about her worst fear as a crime fighter. "Except for your Inertia Belt, you're still in you uniform, I had to pull off your boots and socks to get to your feet. I don't think anyone did anything to you. We can get you checked out once you're mobile, but for now…"

Her eyes opened for the first time, and Dick moved to the head of the bed where she could see him.

"Baat biy?" she slurred.

Dick couldn't help but smile, "not anymore, you show off. Talking after only two minutes."

"A'm wsum lk dat," the girl known as Rocket admitted. "Watr?"

Dick gently lifted her head from the pillow and held a bottle of water to the girl's lips. After several sips, she nodded and he allowed her to lay back. "It's like pins and needles all over," she panted. "Where is everyone else?"

"We are everyone else," Dick admitted.

"Everyone?" she gasped. "They got everyone, but you?"

"I got lucky," Dick admitted.

"Does the League know?"

"Yes," Dick nodded. "They told me they'd take care of it, and that I should go home."

"But you're the one who found me," Raquel noted, putting the pieces together. "What have they done?"

"Something between diddly and squat."

"We need to hang out more," Raquel said disgustedly, "to improve your vocabulary if for no other reason." The girl's eyes went wide. "Cramp, left calf… ow! Ow! Ow!"

Dick rushed to massage the knots in Raquel's legs as they formed. He noted that despite her lack of conscious motor control of her legs, she still flinched a bit at his touch. That decided it for him, he needed help. Raquel needed help. Dick triggered the autodialer in his suit as he continued to work on her legs.

The line picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" a familiar voice asked.

"Barbara? This is Dick. I need your help. Are you up to a little adventure tonight?"

"This morning you mean," the redhead corrected him. "I thought you wanted me to stay out of sight."

"Out of sight in Gotham, I doubt Luthor is looking for any Bat people in Metropolis."

The line went quiet for three seconds. "Metropolis? Hmm. Big city heroics. I'm in. I can be there in about two hours. Where do you need me?"

"Sending you the address now," Dick said. "I've recovered Rocket, but she's hurting. Then you figure they had her for most of two days, and well, there are somethings women are better at than men."

"There are a whole lot of things women are better at than men," Barbara sniffed. "I'm on my way."

The line went dead.

"New outfit has a phone built in?" Rocket asked, working her hands in front of her eyes, flexing each finger individually and in groups.

"Yeah," Dick admitted.

"So you called your girlfriend to help me?"

"I called someone in the life who isn't on the Team," Dick corrected, returning his attention to her calves. "You need to be checked out, and I don't think either of us would be comfortable with me doing it. Then we need to see if you're combat ready. I don't know enough about your belt to tell if it's working or not."

"Belt or no belt, I'm coming." Rocket insisted.

"No, you're not," Dick said simply. "We've both been at each other's sessions with Black Canary. I'm trained to fight without my toys, you aren’t trained to fight without your belt. With your belt you're an asset, hell, you're a heavy hitter. Without it, you're a hindrance."

"You can't stop me."

"Raquel, if I have to, I'll call the League and have Icon collect you," Dick said, his shoulders drooping. "I lost you all once, I'm not doing it again."

"You," Raquel noted, "are an ass. Help me sit up."

---oooOooo---

"That was incredibly awkward," Barbara said as the two young women stared at each other across the apartment's small bathroom.

"I know," Raquel said, closing her borrowed robe, an utterly downcast expression on her face. "I'm sorry."

"I would want to know if I were in your place," Barbara said quietly. "But I'm not talking about this wearing a mask and gloves." Reaching up she pealed back her cowl. "My name is Barbara Gordon."

"Raquel Ervin," Rocket said with a nod. "I do appreciate you doing this for me."

"It's okay," Barbara said hesitantly, "I needed it done for me once. There is no evidence of bruising on your thighs or hips, no evidence of any… fluids."

"Not many people carry around black lights," Raquel noted with relief.

"You would quite literally be amazed what these Utility belts hold," Barbara laughed.

"Considering the things I've seen Batboy pull out of his since I joined the team, I shouldn't be," Raquel smiled, "So, you and Robin?"

"Once," Barbara admitted, "not long after I put on this outfit the first time. We're just friends now."

"A friend who comes in the middle of the night, no questions asked."

"Nature of the job," Barbara said with a shrug. "Let's go see what the next move is, shall we?"

The pair exited the bathroom to find Dick sitting at a desktop computer, several cables running from his uniform to the machine.

"Hi ya, Lex," he said conversationally.

The two women exchanged a look before the settled onto the bed to listen.

"Of course I know what time it is, I just thought that I might remind you that you've only got six hours to produce my friends before things become unpleasant between us."

He listened for a few moments. "That's not the most helpful attitude, Lex, especially since I found one of my friends."

"Oh, but I did Lex. In one of your aircraft, in one of your hangers at the Midvale airport… being held in one of your transport pods, wearing a Lexcorp neural inhibitor and the people who didn't want me to retrieve her all had ids that said they were your employees. I can log in and point them out if you like, you know, how long they've worked for you, how much you pay them, what project they were assigned to for the exercise last night…"

"That isn't the most helpful of attitudes Lex," Dick said, his voice going cold. "Maybe you need a reminder of what you stand to lose."

Manipulating a control on the keyboard, the panicked scream of a young girl echoed in the room. "Recognized poor sweet little Lena's voice didn't you Lex? My team mates had best be in front of the Superman Statute in Centennial Park at 9:17 on the dot, or that's the memory of her voice you'll have for the rest of your life. Sweet dreams Lex."

Turning away from the computer, he found a pair of furious women staring at him. "What?"

"The little girl," Barbara said quietly. "Explain."

"Right now, Batboy," Raquel agreed. "What have you done?"

---oooOooo---

Leaving the Nest
Strike Zone

Dick Grayson's Safe House

Metropolis

Midtown

August 5th

3:25 AM

The two women continued to stare at him in horrified disbelief, even after he finished his explanation.

"I needed the leverage," Dick said plaintively. "I needed to get Luthor off his game, and it wasn't going to happen by playing nice."

"The League is going to be pissed," Rocket predicted.

"Probably," Dick admitted. "And I'll worry about that as soon as everyone is safe."

"Dick," Barbara said softly. "If either of us were taken, Batman would tear Gotham apart looking for us, but he wouldn't have done anything like this."

"Perhaps it needs to be pointed out," Dick sighed. "I am not Batman. But since our partnership dissolved, he and I share one very important quality. He answers to no one. With the Team gone, and the League telling me to stay out of it, neither do I. In six hours we'll find out if my methods worked or not. If they work, the League will do what they do, the rest of the Team will be safe, and I'll take my lumps. If my little plot fails, the League will still do what they do and I'll still take my lumps, but at least we'll have Raquel back."

"I'm taking a shower, and getting dressed," Rocket said, standing up suddenly. "I always think better in the shower, and you've given me a lot to think about."

"Towels, soap and shampoo are in the cupboards in the bathroom," Dick said. "After almost two days your uniform probably smells like feet. You can probably find a change of clothing in the closet."

Rocket slid the closet door open before stepping back in surprise. "Why do you have so many women's outfits?" She reached in and extracted several hangers, examined them and looked up, her surprise growing, "and in so many different sizes?"

"This is a safe house, it needs to be stocked in case I need to go to ground, like now. I have no doubt in my mind that Luthor is tearing Gotham apart looking for me, but he won't find me if I'm not there," Dick stood up and stretched. "There are women's clothes because I had no idea who would be with me when I needed to disappear. I've got things to fit pretty much anyone on the Team, and a few people who aren't on the Team."

"I know I should be used to how much you plan ahead by now," Raquel said as she selected a set of clothing from the closet, "but I'm not."

"Okay," Barbara sighed after the door closed. "I'm in, even if I do think you've crossed a line with Lena Luthor. We'll argue about that when this is over. What's the plan?"

"Well," Dick said sitting back down at his computer, "First thing we need to do if find out if Rocket's Inertia belt is still working. If it is, we're way ahead of the game, if not, well, we'll worry about that when we come to it. Once we have that figured out, I'm going to crash, I've been up for most of three days now. Facing off against Luthor, I'm going to need to be sharp."

Barbara nodded. "9 am isn't the best time for us."

"I disagree," Dick laughed. "It's the perfect time for us. Don't forget, Luthor hasn't slept for a day or so either, and he's not used to it. That being said, Luthor will have done his homework and will know that Robin never works during the day. He's going to shit himself when he finds out that he's not facing Robin, and never has been."

"Batgirl doesn't come out during the day either," Barbara noted.

"That's why Batgirl isn't going to be there," Dick explained. "A new unknown hero Incognito Girl will be. An innocent jogger in the park, blending in, yet in position to do what needs to be done."

"I do not believe you," Barbara said with a shake of her head. "How can you possibly think this is going to work?

"Simple really," Dick admitted. "I cheat. I've cheated a whole lot, and when Luthor tries whatever plan he has cooked up he'll find out that the deck he's trying to deal from the bottom of has been stacked."

---oooOooo---

Twenty minutes later, the door to the bathroom opened a fully clothed Raquel, still toweling her hair.

"Batboy, do I want to know just how it is you had several bras and panties not just in my size but also in my preferred brands, styles and colors in a sealed envelope with my name on it in your storage cupboard?" she asked.

"Probably not," Dick admitted. "Why don't we go with 'lucky guess'?"

"You and I are going to talk when all this is over," Raquel predicted. "You won't know where, you won't know when, but it's going to happen, and we'll discuss your 'luck guesses'. So, what now?"

"Now, you test your Inertia belt," Barbara suggested. "Having Rocket on hand to kick butt is a big part of Plan A."

"What's Plan B?" Raquel asked as she retrieved the belt from the coffin-like transport it (and she) had been housed in, and closed it around her waist.

"Wishing real hard we still had Plan A," Dick sighed. "We'll have to call in the League."

The room filled with a low hum and a smile filled Raquel' face. "Rocket's back baby!"

"Thank god," Dick breathed, before turning back to his computer. "I'm going to crash, wake me at 6:30 if I don't wake up first. We're going to want to be at the Park by 7:30."

"Two hours early?" Raquel asked.

"Got to set up our blinds, get into position," Dick explained as he rose, the inexplicably complex screens of his computer now showing itself to be nothing more than a normal Apricot Moorpark. "Watch TV, listen to music, troll the web, won't bother me."

The two girls watched as the black clad man entered the closet, sliding the door closed behind him.

"He's going to sleep in the closet?" Raquel asked incredulously.

"Studio apartment, one bed, damned little else in the way of furniture," Barbara shrugged. "I've slept in weirder places.

"Every time I think I've got a handle on this Hero thing," Raquel sighed, "I end up talking to one of you bat people and find out I've barely scratched the surface." The young woman seemed to think for a moment before continuing. "So, the underwear thing, you don't suppose he…"

"He likely broke into your locker at Mount Justice," Barbara said casually as she began a quick scan of the computer. "And if there's a bag in there for me, he's been through my underwear drawer at home, and I shall kill him."

"There is, and we will kill him," Raquel corrected her with a smile.

"In the meantime, let's talk about your power," Barbara suggested.

"Okay," Raquel agreed cautiously.

"Dick was telling me that you form force fields with your Inertia Belt."

"That's true as far as it goes," Raquel admitted. "I can put up a kinetic field that will get stronger the more whatever it contains fights against it."

"Dick described how you captured Wonder Woman in that kind of kinetic bubble. Does it have to be visible?"

"Well, no," Raquel admitted. "I usually try to keep my fields as visible as possible so I can intimidate the competition, but their natural state is one of invisibility."

"Excellent," Barbara smiled. "Let's go see if this place has a laundry. I'm going to be in Civies because Batgirl never operates outside of Gotham, but you will be front and center, so we don't want you ruining your stealth mode with two days' worth of uniform stench."

---oooOooo---

Centennial Park

Metropolis

August 5th

9:15 AM

Dick stood in the early morning shadows in the grove near the gigantic statute that dedicated the park to Metropolis' most famous hero.

"Company headed your way boss," Barbara's voice whispered in his left ear. "I'm ready and in position."

"Okay," Raquel said on the same channel, "this is weird."

"Without M'gann to do her telepathy thing, we have to depend on our headsets," he said simply. "There is no way Luthor is going to break the encryption I've got running on these beasts in real time."

"I know, it's just weird is all," Raquel said. "I'm in position too, my field is up and holding, so, I guess I'm as ready as I'm likely to get. Metropolis Power and Light is the marking on the trucks."

"That makes sense," Dick nodded even though neither girl could possibly see him. "If Luthor wants to make sure there aren't any witnesses, what better way than phony utility work?"

The trio watched in silence as the utility workers cordoned off the area around the statue while another team pulled a manhole cover and covertly dropped a package into the access. Immediately a foul stench started billowing from the access.

"Well that will keep the tourists away," Barbara sniffed. "Surprise, surprise, a stretch limo is on its way."

"What an amazing coincidence," Dick said drily. "I guess its show time."

The limousine stopped, Dick watched as Mercy Graves exited the vehicle, her eyes sweeping the area as she moved to the rear passenger door and opened it for her boss.

"Thank you Mercy," Luthor said as he exited the car, his distaste for his people's distraction evident on his face.

The billionaire walked to the front of the statue of his arch enemy, if anything the distaste in his expression growing at the sight of the hero. Luthor turned his back on the statue and called out. "We're not getting any younger, Boy, let's get this over with."

Dick grinned and triggered his smoke bomb. He moved to his planned spot between the statue's legs, and stood with his arms crossed waiting for the smoke to clear.

"Hi ya Lex,"he said. "You're late."

Luthor has spun to face the smoke, Mercy and the rest of the 'utility workers' had produced weapons and were pointing them at him.

"Who are you?" the billionaire demanded. "Where is Robin?"

"Oh, Lex," Dick laughed. "You actually thought that a 14 year old was yanking your chain for the last two days? You really don't deserve your reputation, do you? I happened upon your idiots trying and failing to take down a little kid and took him under my wing. I wiped his nose, and sent him home to hide. It's been all me Lex, from little visit to your daughter's room to the phone calls. Retrieving the sidekicks is my audition for Justice League membership."

"Who are you?" Mercy asked.

The masked hero smiled widely. "I'm called Nightwing. Now then, Luthor, where are the sidekicks?"

"Where is my daughter?" Luthor pleaded.

"No, no, no," Nightwing laughed. "You're the villain in all of this, you’re the one not to be trusted. The sidekicks, now, or forget about ever seeing poor little Lena again."

"Bring them out!" Mercy ordered.

The doors on the utility vans slid open.

---oooOooo---

From her hidden position high above the Superman Statue, Rocket watched as her teammates were lead, one by one from the trucks. The first out was Superboy dressed in his normal black tee and jeans and bound in green chains. Conner was in obvious pain, though he refused to show it. It was clear from the marks on his face that he had been fighting the entire time he had been held.

Zatanna was the next to emerge. Unlike Superboy, she was not in her usual costume, rather she was dressed in dark slacks and a colorful blouse. She recalled from the briefing that Zatanna had been taken between shows in Las Vegas, apparently when she had been out for a meal. She was handcuffed behind her back, and some sort of electronic device was covering her mouth to prevent her from using her powers. Rocket devoted part of her attention to keeping track of where Zatanna was in the lineup. She was supposed to be the secondary target once the excitement started.

Kid Flash was wheeled out of a second van on a hand truck. His body from the waist down was enclosed in a formfitting metal tub, his upper body wrapped in a straightjacket. The assembly was such that it allowed no part of his body any range of motion at all.

Behind Kid Flash's escorts, another set of workers wheeled out a tub of some roiling milky substance. The mass in the tub would attempt to form a structure and then fail back into the gel that made up the bulk of the mass. The silver tub was ringed by electronic devices that almost looked like the devices from Icon's ship that her mentor had called psionic dampeners. She could only assume that whatever it was in the tub was what M'gann looked like when she could not concentrate sufficiently to maintain a solid form. Whatever they had done to her looked horrible, and Rocket promised herself that her third target once the fight started would be to disable the electronics surrounding that tub.

From the third truck, Rocket spotted Artemis stepping into view, shaking off the hands of the pair of Luthor's henchmen who attempted to help her. Artemis was in what was left of her pajamas, both arms in casts from the wrists to the shoulders, her left leg wrapped in a gray fiberglass cast as well. Glaring at her captors, Artemis hobbled unsteadily to where the others waited.

Finally, Kaldur appeared exiting the truck. Like Superboy, Aqualad was dressed in his normal combat uniform, but whatever they had done to him? Shackled hand and foot with an inhibitor collar around his neck, Kaldur shuffled like an old man, not the vibrant hero Raquel knew him to be. His eyes were sunken, his skin grayish and baggy… What had they done to him?

"Are you sure about this?" Batgirl asked over the commlink.

"Positive," Nightwing responded. "Kaldur is a lot tougher than you think. Wait for my signal."

"There they are, Hero," Luthor spat. "Where is my daughter?"

"Now, was that so hard, Lex?" Nightwing asked as he side-armed a small device to Luthor. Rocket watched as the woman in the chauffer's uniform snatched it from the air and examined it before handing it to her boss.

"It's just a phone, Lex," She said.

"What she said, Lex," Nightwing said mockingly. "It's just a phone. Unlock the screen, then press and hold 7."

Luthor examined the cell phone suspiciously, and then he followed the instructions. After four seconds, the screen display of a dialpad was replaced by the face of a young red-haired girl.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed when she identified her father's face. "Oh Daddy, thank you, thank you, thank you, I had breakfast with Princess Aurora, and Minnie, and Daisy, and Goofy and Miss Clarabell and…"

"Lena," Lex Luthor said, showing a side of himself that few in the world had ever seen, "Lena Puddin' are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right Daddy," the little girl said in the tone of a child dealing with confused adults. "I told you, I had breakfast with Princess Aurora, and Minnie, and Daisy, and…"

"Lena Puddin'," Luthor said desperately, "Where are you?"

"Disney World of course, Daddy," the girl said patiently. "Nanny Alpha Said that you would be here today. You don't have to work, do you Daddy? I love Disney World, but I would be sad if you didn't come because you had to work Daddy."

"Lena… I'm… I'm finishing something up right now, I need to finish is so I can come be with you, ok Lena Puddin'?"

"Ok, Daddy," the little girl said agreeably. "See you in a bit."

Luthor ended the call and hugged the phone to his chest for a second before facing the hero Nightwing.

"You sent my daughter to Disneyworld?" He demanded.

"With her nannies, yeah," Nightwing admitted.

"But the nannies were destroyed," Mercy pointed out.

"Nope, I had them pull a full set of replacement parts from your inventory, and then trash them," Nighwing laughed. "Not my fault you took what you saw at face value. Like I said before Lex, your security sucks."

"And the scream of terror you played last night on the phone?"

"Lena got a little excited when the Dumbo ride got to the top, give the kid a break, she's only four. You're going to be getting some amazing PR out of this Lex."

The sudden shift in topic surprised Luthor to the point where he actually relaxed. The change in her boss' body language had Mercy holstering her sidearm as well. "And how is sending my daughter to Disney World with her Nannies going to get me good PR?"

"Well, I made sure your Nanny bots each had their own unlimited Lexcorp Corporate Credit Cards, and I turned their generosity way, way up, then, because I was feeling kind of adventurous, I tweaked their personalities to the point where they were the most loving grandmother types ever to roll off your factory assembly line. You know, because…"

"Yes," the Billionaire interrupted, "my security sucks, so you've said. Get to the point."

"Well, your little family unit got there just as the place opened and well, no one spent any money at Disney World yesterday… other than you."

"Are you telling me that Lexcorp picked up the tab for the daily attendance at Disney World yesterday?" Luthor asked.

"Of course not," Nightwing laughed. "That would be illegal, immoral, and probably wrong in lots of ways. Lexcorp is a publically traded company. The money came out of your personal account, so, you personally picked up the tab for the daily attendance at Disneyworld yesterday… And today. Did you know that admittance to that place averages 53,000 a day at $125 a head? And people say you're evil. Of course your generosity extended well past simple admittance. You also bought every park visitor under 18, anything and everything they want in all of the shops, and of course you comped all the meals at the restaurants and food stands."

"How much?" Luthor ground out.

"I don't know," Nightwing admitted, "I quit paying attention when the tab hit $9 million around dinnertime last night."

"I've heard enough," Luthor said dangerously. "Mercy, kill him."

"With pleasure, Lex," the woman said, extending her arm as it morphed into a cluster of metallic weapons.

"Oh, no, I'm being attacked by a violent cyborg, whatever will I do?" Nightwing asked sarcastically. "My only hope is an implanted override command. Sunshine Lollipop!"

Mercy Grave's expression changed from one of cruel satisfaction to one of startled surprise when her weaponized arm swung from the masked man to aim at her boss.

"Lex, I can't control it," she shrieked. "Something is wrong with my body."

"Lex, buddy, seriously," Nightwing sighed, descending the stairs of the statue's pedestal to throw his arm around the Billionaire's shoulder. "I've demonstrated since we started this dance that I own your computers. I've flat out told you that your security sucks. I took over your network and personal access in real time right in front of you, I suborned your Nanny 'bots based on your Mercy designs, told you I had done it, and you decide to attack me with your cyborg bodyguard? Why are you still alive? Is Superman just the most easy going guy in the universe or does he just feel sorry for you? You should never, ever leave Metropolis, Lex. The criminals in Central City would pants you for your lunch money, the gangs of Dakota would hunt you for the fun of it, and forget that Gotham even exists. You wouldn't last a day in a town without an invulnerable alien making the place safe for you."

"Mercy, shutdown," the Billionaire ordered. After several seconds, nothing happened.

"I also inhibited her destruct," Nightwing snarked. "But feel free to try it."

"Do you think you've won?" Luthor thundered. "I will find you, I will find those you love and I will…"

"Lex," Nightwing sighed. "I was just going to take my hostages and walk away, really I was, but you had to make it personal… Ok Team, Bingo!"

Rocket shifted her focus back to Kaldur exactly on cue, as one of Batgirl's batarangs arced across the field to lodge itself in the back of the inhibitor collar around Kaldur's neck. The light in the center of the weapon flashed three times before it detonated, driving Kaldur to his knees, thankfully with his head still connected to his body.

Rocket centered herself over her team leader and allowed her invisible force bubble to dissolve, dropping its load of three hundred gallons of seawater onto the Atlantian.

---oooOooo---

Rocket heard more than felt the impact of the rounds upon her shield, fired by Luthor's men who evidently weren't bothered by their boss being held under the weapons of his own bodyguard. She swooped down to the ground level hoping that Batbo… Nightwing was accurate in his estimation of Kaldur's resiliency.

The Atlantian rising from the ground with a snarl while shattering chains binding him answered her question readily. She moved to intercept her team leader and pressed a set of his Waterbearers into his hands."

"My thanks, Rocket," he said, flicking the left Waterbearer to extend its length of mystically enhanced water whip fully. "Dehydration was most unpleasant."

"You can thank me properly later," Rocket said lifting from the ground again," Kaldur immediately waded into the fight with Luthor's men, joining Batgirl in the fight.

Rocket landed behind Zatanna, and extended her shield to protect them both, and wrenched the electronic gag from her mouth. "We could use all the backup we could get here," she whispered into the magic user's ear.

Zatanna nodded and drew a deep breath, " Sgnidnib sih morf Hsalf Dik esaeler !"

The metal semi coffin and straightjacket holding Kid Flash fell away from his body, and the teenage speedster was gone before anyone could blink.

"What?" Zatanna gasped, "Where did he go?"

Rocket was already gone, moving to the metal tub and using her Inertia Belt to enhance her physical strikes on the tub holding M'gann in her protoplasmic state. She crushed one of the emitters, then a second one, and then a third, and was rearing back to finish the last of the devices when M'gann erupted from the tub screaming in rage, cycling through dozens of forms in the span of a few seconds, some human, some martian, some… other things, she finally settled on her normal 'public' form and launched herself toward one of Luthor's henchmen in particular.

"I'm back," Kid Flash said in Rocket's ear, startling her. "Where do you need me?

"Where did you go?" Rocket demanded.

"I hadn't eaten in two days," the Speedster explained, "that's bad for most people, disastrous for me. I was digesting my own body. As soon as I was free, I hit the hotdog cart on the other side of the park. I don' think that guy ever sold a dozen dogs to one guy before. Who's the guy with the bird on his chest he moves like… Rob?"

"Later," Rocket insisted "Get Artemis out of the crossfire, then see what you can do about Superboy's chains."

"On it," Kid Flash shouted as he and the injured blonde vanished from the park.

---oooOooo---

Justice League Watch Tower

Low Earth Orbit

August 5th

9:32 AM

The unannounced activation of the Watch Tower Zeta Tube transport system brought the entire contingent onboard the station running to the receiving station. Not being restricted to the access portals, the Martian Manhunter arrived in time to hear the computer announce the incoming visitor.

Recognized: Artemis B:07

‎J'onn J'onzz felt an unfamiliar tug of emotion when he heard the ID of the incoming visitor. If Artemis was free, would M'gann be free as well? While the young female was not actually a blood relation, he felt a certain responsibility for the white orphan who longed to be human.

The girl materialized on the receiving platform and fell to the flooring, shouting, "Damn it, Wally!"

Superman arrived in the transport compartment as J'onzz scooped the injured girl from the decking, the two aliens both using their senses, hyper enhanced by human standards, to analyze her injuries and treatment possibilities.

"Welcome back Artemis," J'onzz said. "How did you escape? Was Kid Flash involved?"

"No," the girl said, shaking her head. "Not Wally. We were all restrained, but the guards were talking about Robin running Lex Luthor ragged. I'm not sure where we were, but there was a big golden statue of Superman, everyone was fighting. Everyone but me. Wally sent me here because I was helpless."

The two caped heroes exchanged a look, and spoke at the same time, "Centennial Park."

"Assemble a league response team," Superman said, "I'm heading down."

"No," J'onzz manifested a third arm to place a hand on his friend's shoulder. "This is Luthor we're talking about. Robin of all people, 'running him ragged'? A fight in Centennial Park under your statue? This has trap written all over it. We'll assemble the team and respond as a team."

The Kryptonian seemed about to protest, then sagged, "you're right, who knows how much Kryptonite he had waiting for me. We move in five minutes."

---oooOooo---

Centennial Park

Metropolis

August 5th

9:33 PM

The last of Luther's men fell, only a second after Kid Flash managed to vibrate the Kryponite infused chains off of Superboy. The Speedster helped his teammate away from the debilitating material while, unbidden, Rocket encapsulated the chains in a shield bubble and caused them to accelerate away from the Earth at escape velocity.

Nightwing moved to sit on the steps directly in front of Lex Luthor, the Billionaire still being forced to remain where he was under the weapons of his suborned cyborg bodyguard.

"Sirens," the hero remarked. "And heading this direction if I were to guess. I wonder how much this one is going to cost you, Lex?"

"Cost me?" Luthor laughed. "Why would being attacked in a public park by super powered gangbangers cost me anything?"

"Hmm, what we have here is a failure to communicate," Nightwing pointed out. "Pay attention Lex, I'm not going to explain this to you again, I'm not Superman. I'm not going to wait here for the cops with my hands on my hips all heroic like and expect them to take my word for what happened here. There are a dozen cameras focused on this little party Lex. Each and every one of them full HD, with sound and full motion tracking. Copies of each of the videos, both digital and physical are being sent to the Mayor, the Chief of Police, the Department heads of each major division of the Metropolis Police, the Editors of all three Daily Newspapers, the Publisher of both the Tabloids, GBS, because I know how much Max Lord just loves you, all the local Television stations, even the ones you own, all of the state's Congressmen, not just the one's you own, and all hundred senators. This is all happening right now, as I'm explaining it to you. And it includes you ordering Miss Graves here to kill me."

"Now, I have few illusions about life," Nightwing continued, "I have no doubt that you will likely be keeping your promise to join Lena in Disney World tonight, and why not? You paid for it after all. But, never forget Lex, I'm watching you, and unlike the big blue Boyscout, I play to win. You should probably stick to annoying invulnerable aliens, you aren't up to playing with the big kids."

The hero threw a smoke pellet to the ground between Luthor and himself. When the smoke cleared, the Justice League's junior team, and the Hero called Nightwing were gone.

Lex Luthor, a man famous for his public personae of calm was still cursing a blue streak when the police arrived and Mercy Grave's Cybernetic systems returned to her conscious control.

The blue streak intensified beyond all reason when Superman arrived with a Justice League reaction team two minutes later.

---oooOooo---

Justice League Watch Tower

Low Earth Orbit

August 5th

12:00 PM

"Mission Debrief: Kaldur'ahm Codename Aqualad." Batman intoned for the record.

"You are recovered from your ordeal, Kaldur?" Aquaman asked.

"I am, my King," the youth said with a respectful nod.

"The evidence of your abduction led us to suspect that dehydration technology was used to subdue you," Batman noted.

"That is accurate, yes," Kaldur nodded. "I never truly lost consciousness, but most of my higher functions shut down until I was revived by the seawater immersion in the park. My apologies for my failure, my King."

"Being subject to the limitations of your body is not a failure, Kaldur," King Orin said calmly. "I myself have experience dehydration and know what you went through. Your immediate response to combat when recovering from severe dehydration was beyond reproach. You did well."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: M'gann M'orzz Codename Ms. Martian."

"We've never done individual debriefs before," M'gann noted shyly.

"Each of you had individual experiences," J'onzz explained. "We want to make sure that we know what each of you experienced so that we can build training to protect you for the future."

M'gann nodded and visibly collected herself. "The attack was sudden and overwhelming. A psi-active was my principle attacker. Not Psimon, but someone with almost his level of skill. By himself he couldn't have overwhelmed me, but the amount of my attention his attack consumed prevented me from mounting an adequate defense to the physical attack that I encountered in my bedroom."

"Between the two attacks, I lost consciousness," M'gann continued blushing a dark green, "when I woke up, I was in a tub under a constant psionic attack, preventing me from taking a solid form."

"From the videos of the fight, you showed a bit of direct hostility toward a specific member of Luthor's team," The Manhunter pressed delicately. "Do you mind explaining why?"

"He was one of my guards," M'gann said, her eyes fixed on the floor, and her blush deepening. "He kept… putting things in me."

"Things?" Black Canary asked.

"Bolts, coffee cups," M'gann said, her face taking on an expression of distaste, "cigarette butts."

Silence filled the conference room for several moments.

"I for one," Wonder Woman said, "admire your restraint."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Artemis Crock Codename Artemis."

"As soon as we're done here, we'll get your arms and leg looked at," Green Arrow said.

"I'm fine," the young blonde said with a sniff. "You should see the other guys."

"It was clear from the destruction of your room that you had put up quite a fight," Batman nodded approvingly.

"Is my mom okay?" Artemis asked.

"She told me she was more worried about the men who took you than about you," Oliver Queen said. "She said that if you didn't kill them, your father or sister likely would. She is relocated to a League Safe House and has been informed that you'll be joining her soon."

"Well, I can't tell you much," the girl admitted. "The group that grabbed me were seriously freaked out that I got hurt, I mean, even more so than how they acted about their own guys. They got in a woman who I think was a doctor, who set my bones and shot me up with pain killers. I didn't see any faces, and they didn't talk about anything around me other than how much trouble they were in over me getting hurt." She shrugged. "I guess someone wanted the Team whole and unhurt."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Raquel Irvin Codename Rocket."

"This is a waste of time," Raquel said. "I was with Icon when I was taken, and I was out until Dick woke me up."

"Dick?" Icon asked.

"Batboy," Rocket explained. "Used to be Robin, now he's Nightwing."

"Nightwing." Batman noted.

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. "He woke me up from a Neural Inhibitor, and massaged me through the cramps that come from waking up from one of those things, and then he held my hand when I went into a panic over the idea that I might have been molested while out. That's when he called in Batgirl."

"Why?" Icon asked.

"Because I needed to speak with another woman," Raquel sighed.

"It's a totally understandable woman thing," Black Canary interjected. "Many of us have gone through exactly the same thing."

"I haven't," Wonder Woman said in a confused tone.

"Hardly a surprise Diana, the man who attempts to molest you dies messily," Black Canary sighed. "The rest of us aren't quite that that dangerous."

"Once Batgirl was there, Dick explained his plan," Raquel continued, desperately wanting to change the subject. "It sounded crazy, but most of his plans do. As usual, it worked, we're all here."

"Robin has revealed his identity to you?" Batman asked.

"I just heard Batgirl, who did tell me her name, call him Dick," Raquel said with a shrug. "I didn't ask."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Wallace West Codename Kid Flash."

"Wallace?" Kid Flash asked with a frown. "Come on Batman, Wally, it's always been Wally. I hate 'Wallace', it makes me sound a million years old."

"Let's just discuss your capture and time in captivity, if you don't mind, Wally," Flash asked.

"Sure, Uncle Barry, no problem," the teenaged speedster nodded. "I got home from a run to the store for milk to find five hoods holding guns on my Mom and Dad. They gave me a choice to get in their restraints or they would shoot my folks, so I did."

"Describe the restraints," the Batman directed.

"Well, the lower fixture was like the bottom half of a coffin, but there was more to it than that. Once they closed the latches, I couldn't move my legs at all. Then they put me in a straightjacket, which was lined with electronics, I could still move within the restraints of the jacket, but if I tried to get any speed going, I got an electric shock that almost knocked me out."

"Interesting," Barry Allen mused. "Restraints specifically designed to hold a speedster. What happened during your captivity?"

"Hunger, mostly," Wally admitted. "I was left alone. Never saw anyone until we got taken to the park where Rob was waiting to mess with Luthor. That guy's been holding out on me, his new costume is great, the bird doesn't look like a robin though."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Conner Kent Codename Superboy."

"How are you feeling?" Superman asked. "You're still a little… green."

"Okay, I guess," the youth grunted. "That Kryptonite stuff hurts. How long does it normally take to wear off?"

"The more sun you get the faster you'll get over it. I'd spend the rest of the day in the Watch Tower's solarium," Superman suggested.

"What do you recall of your capture and captivity?" Batman asked.

"Pain, mostly," Superboy admitted. "A couple of the guards wanted to show how tough they were by working me over, but the Kryptonite might have taken away my powers, it didn't make my body any less dense, so at least one of them broke bones in their hands when they punched me."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Zatanna Zatara Codename Zatanna."

"Report the circumstances of your capture." Dr. Fate demanded.

"I don't answer to you," the girl said. "Release my father and I'll speak with him."

"Fate, your presence here is detrimental," the Batman pointed out. "It would be best if you were to leave."

"My current host has affection for this girl," Dr. Fate argued.

"This girl has no affection for you," Zatanna spat, rising from her chair. "As long as the Justice League tolerates this… thing controlling my father, I don't answer to the League either. You can live without my debriefing."

---oooOooo---

"Mission Debrief: Codename Batgirl Real name not revealed," the Batman said.

"You are not a member of the Team," Aquaman pointed out. "Did you see your participation in Robin's plan as a sort of audition?"

"I am a free agent who works in Gotham," Barbara responded. "A friend called asking for my help, I was available, so I came to help. I am not auditioning for your team."

"The video of the confrontation clearly shows that you threw an explosive batarang into the inhibitor collar while it was still on Aqualad's neck," Wonder Woman noted. "It is only luck that prevented you killing him."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Barbara disagreed. "From the earliest versions of the plan we anticipated the possibility of inhibitor collars on Superboy and Aqualad, and destroying the collars were my first priorities. If Superboy had been wearing one, his innate density would have been more than enough to survive the destruction of the collar, and similarly, Aqualad is capable of living at the depths of the sea, the pressure wave the batarang was capable of generating would have been a minor fraction of what he was born to experience every second of his life."

"That is… true…" Aquaman agreed. "Though it was disturbing to watch."

"And it was disturbing to do," Barbara admitted. "No one was more relieved that I was when Kaldur got back to his feet after my batarang destroyed the inhibitor collar that was keeping him powerless."

---oooOooo---

"Disciplinary hearing: Codename Robin Real name not revealed.

"What were you thinking?" Superman demanded.

"Should I come back later?" Dick asked.

That question pulled the Kryptonian up short. "Excuse me?"

"Batman said that this was a Disciplinary hearing for Robin. I am no longer Robin."

"What do you mean, you are no longer Robin?" Wonder Woman asked.

"When Batman accepted the Justice League's evaluation of my status as a sidekick rather than his partner and told me to go home, that was the time of my resignation."

"You quit because I called you a sidekick?" the Flash asked.

"No," Dick corrected the speedster. "I quite literally could not possibly care less what any of you think of me. I quit as Robin because Batman didn't correct you, and then went on to treat me like a sidekick. He and I had always been partners, you see. He was, admittedly, the senior partner, and in charge, but I wasn't the child in the back to be sent to my room when things got 'serious'. His relationship with the League led Batman to decide to change the parameters of our partnership and that led me to decide to end it."

"So, you are no longer 'Robin'?" Superman asked.

"I believe I said that. If you want Robin, there is a new candidate waiting for Batman to accept him."

"Is he ready?" Batman asked.

"He is," Dick confirmed.

"Regardless, you were told to stand down," Superman pointed out. "You disregarded that order and directly confronted Lex Luthor."

"I am not subject to your orders," Dick pointed out. "You issued orders to Robin. Robin was a member of the Team. I quit being Robin, at that instant in time, I quit being a member of the team. I am a free agent, I am Nightwing."

"And who gave you permission to take the name Nightwing?" Superman pressed.

"Who gave you permission to take the name Superman?" Nightwing asked. "We've all taken the name's we've taken for our own reasons. You lead the Justice League, for some reason I've never been able to determine. While I was a member of the Team, I was subject to your leadership. As soon as I became an independent, your orders became nothing more than suggestions that I was free to ignore."

"You kidnapped a four year old child." Green Arrow snarled.

"I most certainly did not," Dick disagreed. "I facilitated a vacation for Lena Luthor that her father had been promising for months. That vacation was in the company of her nannies, whose defensive capabilities and communication capabilities were unaffected in any way. Had Luthor ever tried, he would have instantly connected with them via his own personal phone. The connection I did disable was the outgoing link via the Mercy Graves Cyborg. The fact that Luthor reacts in easily predictable patterns is not my fault."

"Predictable?" Superman choked, "Lex Luthor is predictable?"

"Pathetically so," Nightwing nodded. "I have no idea how he got his reputation. All of his defenses on his buildings are rated to keep you out. They didn't even notice I was there, and that was before I hacked them. He spent a fortune in lead lining ever flat surface in the place and never thought about encrypting his video feeds. His computer security is pathetic, and it's going to be worse, because he's about to hire me as his new security consultant."

"He going to hire you?" Batman asked.

"You're not the only one with multiple public personae, Batman. I was paying attention, after all. He put out for bids, and I put out the lowest."

"Nothing you did was legal," the Flash insisted.

"Very little any of us do is legal, Flash," Nightwing disagreed. "It took me three times of monitoring the video feed from Luthor's office to figure out what happened when you assaulted him, and yes, forcing someone into your superspeed time frame is classified as assault, and a good lawyer would call your entering his building to do your little assault trick as criminal trespass as well."

"The fact remains, you were told to stand down," Superman said, returning to his original point, "and you did not."

"There are seven people on board this station right now, because I did not," Nightwing pointed out.

"Because of your methods, we will never know why they were taken," Batman interjected.

"And I don't give a single damn why they were taken," Dick snapped. "To you they might be little more than expendable sidekicks, to me they are my friends, people I have trained, fought, and bled beside. Now Luthor knows not to mess with the Team, because someone will always hit back at him as hard as he hits us. He knows HE is vulnerable, and because of that I suspect that it will be a while before he tries to extend his reach beyond annoying an invulnerable alien."

"What do you mean by that?" Superman demanded.

"By that, I mean that in two days, I did more damage to Luthor, his operations and his self-confidence, than you've done in ten years," Nightwing said. "Your hands off, mustn't offend methods allowed Luthor to forget the rules. I reminded him of everything he's forgotten facing off against you."

"There are those in the League who feel you should be punished," Black Canary noted.

"In as much as I am not a League member, nor am I currently a member of the Team," Dick suggested, "there isn't really much you can do to punish me."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself, Dick Grayson," Green Arrow said with a smirk.

"Oh, gosh, you figured out my name based upon knowing Batman's name, are you sure you shouldn't been known as the world's greatest detective Oliver Queen?" Dick asked. Seeing the look of surprise on the assembled leaguer's faces he continued, "What? Did you really think I didn't know who you all are? I'm trained by one of the world's premier detectives, remember? Determining who you all were was a task I set for myself before the Team was even formed. The only one that ever gave me any real trouble was Captain Marvel, and to be fair, his was a magical cheat."

"I consider it an asset," the Captain laughed.

"I bet you do Billy," Nightwing laughed. "In the meantime, Ollie can tell us more about his Arrow car, and his Arrow cave, and how he swung through Star City on his Arrowlines…"

A glower was Green Arrow's only response.

"Okay, now that we're done with the feeble attempt to threaten the sidekick, we can get serious. This is my position, and the League can take it or leave it. Within the boundaries that all of us work in, I did nothing wrong. I was successful in extracting the Team from Luthor's captivity. They have been returned whole and for the most part unhurt. Did I disobey your orders? Yes I did, I've explained my reasoning and I stand by that. Would I do it again? In a Metropolis Minute."

"If all of this means that Nightwing will not be invited to membership in the Team and perhaps the League someday, I can live with that."

Dick stood up and faced the assembled Leaguers. "That's it, I'm done. I'll leave you all to discuss what happens now. I have to go plot my escape from the Watch Tower."

"Escape?" Ralph Digby asked. "Why would you need to escape?"

"Because going to ground with Rocket and Batgirl exposed one of my prepared safe houses to the two young women and they discovered just how prepared I was," Dick explained with a small smile. "I suspect I'm going to need to make a run for it."

---oooOooo---

"Hey," Dick said as he entered the solarium. "How you feeling Conner?"

"Better," the Human/Kryptonian clone said, sitting up to meet his friend's eyes. "The Sunshine helps, a whole lot."

"Someday, I'm going to have to figure out how your body works," Dick laughed. "Being a living solar battery must be a rush."

"It has its moments, but a sunbeam, as nice as it is, will never replace a nice greasy bacon cheeseburger," Superboy admitted. Laying back down on the grass with his hands clasped behind his head, the clone sighed. "You know, when Batgirl told us that you had somehow managed to avoid being captured like the rest of us, I knew I should have been surprised, but I wasn't."

"No?"

"Nope, and that surprised me," Conner admitted. "I mean think about it, those of us with powers were taken with a fair amount of fuss, but to take Artemis they had to cripple her and she busted four of them up for their trouble and you got away completely, then got the rest of us out. Way to make us feel inadequate, dude."

"That wasn't my intention."

"I know that," Conner laughed. "But then you show up rocking that new outfit and a new name? I'm starting to reconsider the jeans and tee-shirt look."

"Yeah, well, I've managed to annoy the hell out of Superman and by extension the rest of the League, I'm not likely to be on the Team anymore," Dick sighed. "Where is everyone else?"

"Not on the Team?" Conner asked sitting up. "What do you mean not on the Team?"

"They ordered me to go home and leave it to them," Dick explained.

"And you said screw that," Conner suggested.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Ah, they'll yell at each other for a while, and then do the right thing," Conner said laying back down on the grass, "that's what they did with me, and I had something of a pissy attitude if you recall."

"What?" Dick asked incredulously. "You had an attitude? News to me. Where is everyone else?"

"Kaldur went to take a dip in Aquaman's pool," Conner explained. "He said something about never feeling properly hydrated again, Wally went to find a snack, and the girls are all off in the Medbay with Artemis, 'cause Rocket said they had something to talk about."

"Ah crap," Dick swore. "I probably ought to start running now."

"What?" Conner asked with his own tone of incredulity, "Why?"

"Rocket and Batgirl might have found out something about my safehouse that the girls might not approve of," Dick explained without elaboration.

"Oh," Conner nodded, "what did you do? Steal their underwear?" After several seconds of silence from his friend, Superboy sat up again. "You didn't?"

"No, I didn't steal their underwear," Dick said with a sigh. "I sort of broke into their lockers to find out what kind they wore and had a few sets of the right kind for them, in case they needed them."

"Oh," Conner lay down again, "that seems reasonable to me. Do you really think they'd be mad about that?"

"Well," Dick said, having spotted the women heading their way, "considering they're heading our way, and they don't look happy, it seems likely."

"Hmm. Well, don't get any of it on me, M'gann and I are doing pretty good right now, and I'd like to keep it that way."

---oooOooo---

"Hold it right there, Nightwing." Artemis called from across the solarium. "We need to talk."

"Love to," Dick responded, never stopping on his way to the exit on the opposite side of the room. "Gotta ask for a raincheck though, there's an emergency in Gotham, I'm needed."

"Odd that I haven't gotten an alert," Batgirl noted with a small grin.

"I'm sure you will, any time now, see you down stairs!"

Dick reached the exit and the door slid open to reveal the exit was blocked by Black Canary. "Hello Nightwing," she purred dangerously. "The emergency in Gotham was taken care of, so you and the ladies can have your talk."

"Shouldn't you be at my disciplinary meeting? Voting to expel me from the Team?" He asked hopefully.

"I voted already," Canary said, leaning across the door jam. "The rest are still deliberating. I ran into the girls in the Medbay, and such a story they told me… Tell me Nightwing, did you have a place for me at your 'safe house'?"

Dick blinked, "I assumed that you had your own bolt hole arranged."

"Oh," she said, her hand falling upon his shoulder, "I'm hurt that you didn't think of me in your plans. Come on, let's go see what the ladies want, shall we?"

---oooOooo---

"I've got one good arm," Artemis said, "Give me my bow. I'm hunting perverts."

"Look," Dick sighed. "I didn't know who I would end up going to ground with, I wanted to be prepared. It was easy with the guys, boxers and jockies of the right sizes. With you girls, I'd always heard how you all searched high and low for just the right panties and bras because you found everything else uncomfortable."

"Pervert," Zatanna sneered, " Sezis owt knirhs strohs Sgniwthgin !"

Having been stabbed, shot and run over in the past had only barely prepared Dick for the pain involved with that particular bit of magic.

"Damn it, Zatanna, that hurts."

"Good," the angry young woman snapped.

"Did you have underthings for me?" M'gann asked.

"Why would I?" Dick asked. "You form your clothing out of your body mass."

"Just wondering," M'gann shrugged, "maybe I'll be mad at you for leaving me out."

"Oh, why not? Come on, ladies, it's not like I could ask you," Dick tried to explain. "As soon as you tell someone you have a safe house, it's not a safe house. Batman didn't know about it. Batgirl didn't know about it. Noone knew about it but me. Did I invade your privacy to find out about your under things? Yes I did, and I'm sorry about the necessity of that."

"Necessity?" Barbara asked.

"I know you and Raquel used your caches. A bit of comfort in a dangerous situation was not the worst thing in the world was it?"

"It was nice to have a comfortable bra," Raquel admitted. "It took forever to find one that didn't chafe under my uniform. But the fact that you broke into my locker is a major creep factor."

"And into my bedroom," Barbara interjected, "since I don't have a locker at Mount Justice."

"I didn't break into your bedroom," Dick sighed. "I paid attention when we were dating."

"We never went that far," she objected at the sight of the sudden interest of the other girls. "When did you see my underwear when we were dating?"

"When I was helping you fix your uniform," Dick reminded her. "Remember your first one? Spandex with no body armor? I snuck you into the cave for three sessions in the body molds. That's when I found out women wore more than just one kind of underwear."

"Men don't?" Zatanna asked.

"We buy ours in packs of six, wear them until the start falling apart and then by another sixpack, usually of the same brand, style and color."

"Oh," Artemis said in a tone of disgust, "that's just wrong."

---oooOooo---

"It's your turn to buy," Bruce said as he opened the diner's door.

Clark regarded his friend with a gimlet eye, "I work for a meager salary and you're a billionaire, why is it ever my turn to buy?"

"I don't stay a billionaire by feeding every impoverish reporter who comes my way," the last of the Waynes snarked while looking over the menu. "The pecan pie looks good."

"I lean more toward the apple myself," Clark nodded.

"Back again gentlemen?" the waitress asked when she arrived to take their order.

"You run a nice place to discuss important things, Kathy," Clark said.

Once the pair were alone, they returned to business.

"You seem inordinately pleased with yourself," Clark noted.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Bruce asked. "My partner has learned what I had to teach him, and he learned it well enough to get past me at my own game, at least once. The fact that he twisted your cape was just icing on the cake."

Their coffees and pies arrived, the pair nodded their thanks.

"Are you claiming you planned for Dick to strike off on his own?" Clark asked as he tried his pie. It was almost, but not quite as good as his mother's. Someday, he was going to have to introduce Bruce to what pie was supposed to taste like.

"Planned? No," Bruce answered. "Surprised that he took umbrage at being told to stand down? Not at all. I thought he was still too predictable, that I knew what he was up to, I thought I was in control. I was wrong."

"Bruce Wayne admitting he was wrong, surely that's one of the signs of the apocalypse," Clark said with a grin.

"I am frequently wrong," Bruce disagreed. "I simply try to learn from my mistakes."

"Will you be taking on the new partner Dick spoke of?"

"I'll offer him a tryout," Bruce said, looking over his coffee cup at one of the few men he considered to be a friend. "We'll see."

"You constantly surprise me," the reporter said, shaking his head. "I was honestly surprised when you came out in support of offering Dick his position on the Team back."

"If we hadn't, we wouldn't have a team," Bruce explained. "He saved them, when we weren't even close to finding them, and they know it. Given a choice between Dick and us, they'd have gone with him in a heartbeat. As long as they're with us, we have more control of who and what they end up facing."

"Except for when we don't."

"Except for when we don't," Bruce agreed.

Their pie finished, the two men turned their attentions to their coffees for several seconds until Clark broke the silence.

"Am I soft on my opponents?" He asked.

"The ones you actually beat on?" Bruce asked. "No, no one will ever accuse you of being soft on someone like Darkseid. On those you don't use your strength on, you're so frightened you'll hurt them, yes, you're soft of them. That's why Luthor has managed to get way with so much."

---oooOooo---

Mercy Graves spotted him first. Having her cybernetic systems shut down had slowed her reactions, but not her ability to observer her surroundings.

"Lex," she said, nodding toward the balcony.

Luthor turned away from his sleeping daughter to see the alien hovering outside the penthouse's balcony in a standing position his arms crossed.

"What do you want?" Luthor asked after he slide the door to the suite behind himself.

"Have I made you soft?" Superman asked.

Luthor blinked. Of all the things the alien might have asked, that was something the billionaire had not expected. "What?"

"We tried to discipline the new hero Nightwing over his arranging for your daughter to come to Florida without your knowledge and approval."

"And?" Luthor asked.

"And he laughed at us," Superman admitted. "He told us he simply implemented a vacation trip that you had been promising for months and that the only communications he blocked was that between your body guard and the nannies. He also said he had done more to disrupt your operations and self confidence in two days than I had managed in ten years. Have I made you soft? Have you forgotten how to deal with human opponents?"

"You need to get that boy under control," Luthor snarled. "He is violating all the rules. The rules that keep the both of us from going too far."

The alien hung his head, "You're right. I'll keep an eye on him."

"You'd better!" Luthor thundered, turning on his heel and heading back into the hotel suite. Once inside, he collapsed on his bed with the realization that he actually had gotten soft while fighting against the alien.

How had that even happened?

---oooOooo---