Robin’s POV

I failed again. I made Bruce tell the team our identity. He told them our secret… for me.

Agghhh… Artemis is right, I am stupid. I ran away thinking nobody needed me, but I was wrong. She said he was worried sick about me. Me!

Bruce has always been there for me. When my parents died, through the nightmares , when I was sick. When I got kidnapped and/or held for ransom, he would always find a way to get me back, one way or another.

Bruce needs me and I need him. I should never have left. I should have talked it over with him. if he would’ve said that he didn’t want me around anymore, then I would’ve left, but stupid me left before I heard what he had to say.

He threatened to break the door down just to talk to me.

I have to go back. I have to go home. Back to Bruce, my father. That’s where I really belong.

Normal POV

Dick jumped down from the top of the tree he was in and started running after his friends, who had given up on finding him a few minutes ago.

“Guys, wait up!” he yelled hoping they could hear him.

But before he could get back to them, or even tell if they had heard him, three guys came out from behind three different trees.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” one of them asked as he stepped toward Dick.

Dick froze when he saw them. He knew he could take them, but only as Robin, and he didn’t have his glasses, mask, or suit on.

“Hey, isn’t that the kid from Gotham that disappeared about three weeks ago?” another one asked.

“You know, I do believe you’re right, Steve,” the third one said. “What do you think, Tom, take the kid back and get every penny we can from his rich daddy?” he then asked the first guy.

“Jake, Steve, I do believe we have ourselves a plan,” Tom said.

Dick backed up, getting ready to run, when Steve charged at him. Dick jumped out of the way and ducked when Tom and Jake tried to grab him.

“Help!” Dick yelled as he started running in the direction his friends were.

He was almost to the clearing where the road went through the trees, and where his friends were, when Tom came out of nowhere and grabbed him.

“Gottcha.”

Jake and Steve came up behind Tom and smiled. “Gotham, here we come,” Jake said.

“He…” Dick tried to yell out again, but Tom put his hand over Dick’s mouth before he could finish getting the word out.

Dick struggled against Tom’s embrace as the three guys laughed and headed to their car a few miles down the road.

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M’gann led the way back to the ship, tears streaming down her face. The others just walked quietly with their heads down.

They had lost him. Batman wasn’t going to be too happy, but they also didn’t think he was going to be mad either.

They were almost to the ship when Conner stopped, making Wally and Kaldur run into him.

“Dude!” Wally yelled angrily.

“Shhhh,” was all he said.

Wally forgot about his anger and became concerned. “What?”

“I heard something. It sounded like someone said… Wait, now I hear someone shouting help!” Conner said.

“Robin?” Artemis asked.

“I can feel him. He’s scared,” M’gann said very worried.

“We have to help him,” Wally said as he started running into the trees.

The others ran after him and caught up with him after a few seconds. He had stopped to try and figure out which way to go.

They all froze when they heard Dick try to yell for help but was cut off.

“Dick!” Wally yelled hoping to hear something else. Nothing came.

Conner tried to focus his hearing and heard one of the men say something about Gotham. “They’re taking him back to Gotham,” he finally told them. Then they all heard tires screeching in the distance.

“Come on, we must inform Batman,” Kaldur said as he and the others ran back to the bio ship.

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Bruce was sitting in the living room watching the news when he saw a news clip about Dick.

In other news, the young Dick Grayson, adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, is still missing. Commissioner Gordon said that he has called every police station in the state, hoping that one of them has seen him, but nothing has turned up yet. The commissioner is still hopeful that they will…

Bruce turned the TV off. He couldn’t stand listening to it anymore. The press have been trying to get a statement from him on why he ran away and how he felt about it, and thankfully the police have been able to keep most of them away.

He finally decided to go to the Batcave and call the team to see if they found him or not. When he stepped off the elevator, he saw that someone was trying to get a hold of him.

He ran over to the computer, not even worrying about his mask, and answered the communication. Kaldur came on the screen. “Yes?” he asked hopeful.

“Batman, we found Robin,” Kaldur started. Bruce sighed in relief and smiled, but lost his smile when Kaldur continued, “but we lost him again.”

“Then he doesn’t want to be found,” Bruce said sadly, putting his head down.

“No, that is not what I meant,” Kaldur replied.

Bruce looked back up at the screen confused. “Then what do you mean by lost him?” he asked starting to get worried again.

“We found him outside of Northbra, and there were a lot of trees around that area. When we were talking to him, I believe he felt bad about you telling us your identities because he ran and hid in the trees. We tried to find him, but could not, so we went back to the ship to return to the mountain. But before we got to the ship, Superboy heard him cry out for help. We tried to find him and help him, but when we got back into the trees, the men that took him were already gone, and we heard tires to tell us that they got away, but Superboy heard them say something about taking him to Gotham.”

“They’re going to ransom him off for money,” Bruce said.

“That was our thought as well. Will you require our assistance?” Kaldur asked.

“No. Go back to the mountain and wait there. I’ll get him back,” Bruce said.

Kaldur nodded then broke off communications.
Bruce then got up and headed to the elevator to wait for the ransom demand.

“Hold on, Dick, you’re almost home,” he said as the elevator doors closed.

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Tom was driving, Steve was in the passenger seat, and Jake was in the back with Dick, who now had tape over his mouth and ropes binding his wrists together behind his back.

“So, how much we gonna ask for?” Steve asked.
“Don’t know. How much do you think the kid’s worth?” Tom replied.

“I wouldn’t pay a penny for him,” Jake said, “but Wayne would probably give anything to get him back.”

“I know what you mean,” Steve replied. “If I were a billionaire, I wouldn’t take in some stupid kid so he could be kidnapped for my money.”

All three of them laughed. Dick was just staring out the window, watching the scenery go by, thinking. ‘Bruce doesn’t think I’m some stupid kid. If he did, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would be either in an orphanage somewhere, in someone’s basement starving to death, or dead. Bruce does care about me.’ He tried to smile at that thought, but had a hard time with the tape over his mouth.

They finally drove into Gotham’s city limits and pulled up to an old, abandoned apartment building that looked like it was about to collapse.

“We’ll hide out here ‘til we get our money,” Tom said as he put the car in park and shut it off.

“I say one hundred million each,” Steve said as he got out of the car.

“Sounds good to me. I can so a lot with one hundred mil,” Jake said as he slammed the door.

“Alright, so we’ll say three hundred mil to get the kid back,” Tom said as he opened the back door and dragged Dick out.

“Good, and the sooner we get it, the sooner we can get out of here,” Steve said.

“Yeah, and get rid of the brat,” Jake agreed.

They all walked in and Tom threw Dick on the floor before closing the door. “Steve, you give old Mr. Wayne a call and make our demands,” Tom said.

Steve nodded then left the room. Dick was trying to sit up when Jake came over and kicked him hard in the chest.

“Jake, what are you doing!?” Tom asked as he grabbed Jake’s arm to stop him.

“Tom, I hate kids, always have, and I get a huge thrill when I beat them to death.” Dick’s eyes went wide and his head shot up to look at Jake.

“Fine, but you can’t kill him,” Tom said as he released his grip and walked over to the old beat up couch.

Dick was now sitting up, staring at Jake. Jake nodded, smiled as he turned to Dick, and started walking toward him. Dick tried to scoot back, but hit the wall behind him.

“I can live with that,” Jake said as he stopped right in front of Dick.

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head when Jake raised his fist to hit him.

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Bruce was pacing back and forth in front of the phone waiting for the kidnappers to call.

Alfred walked in the room and saw him. “Anything yet?”

“No, and it’s been almost four hours since Aqualad called,” Bruce said as he turned to look at Alfred.

“I’m sure they’ll call any…” Alfred was cut off by the phone.

Bruce dove for the phone. “Hello?”

“Mr. Wayne?” a low voice said over the phone.

“Yes, this is Wayne.”

“Good. Mr. Wayne, we have your son, and to get
him back, you need to bring three hundred million dollars, cash, to the old, abandoned apartment building in downtown Gotham, by seven.”

Bruce looked up at the clock and saw that is was six forty-five. “But that’s only fifteen minutes,” he replied.

“If you want your son back, Mr. Wayne, that’s the time to meet,” the voice said before he hung up.

Bruce hung up the phone then turned to Alfred.

“Sir?”

“I’ve got fifteen minutes to get to the old, abandoned apartment building downtown,” he answered walking past Alfred and to the Batcave.

“My word!” Alfred exclaimed.

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Steve walked back into the room where the others were, and saw Jake kicking Dick. He then looked over to Tom and then walked over to sit next to him.

“He havin’ fun?” Steve asked pointing back to Jake.

“Yep, been doin’ it since you went to call Wayne. Is he gonna bring the money?” Tome replied as he looked to Steve.

“Yeah, he’ll be here within fifteen minutes,” Steve said with a smile on his face.

“Good.”

Jake came over and sat down next to Tom. Both Tom and Steve looked at him. “Have fun?” Steve asked.

“The most I’ve had for a while, although it would’ve been better if I could’ve killed him,” Jake said with a smile.

“Well, if Wayne ain’t here after seven, then you can,” Tom said.

“Looking forward to it,” Jake said as his smile got even bigger and he looked behind him to the unconscious boy.

Dick was lying on the floor bloodied and bruised. His nose and mouth were both bleeding, and his shirt was ripped in several places, showing off forming bruises.

The three sat there talking about what they were going to do with the money when they got it, unaware of the dark figure watching them through the window.

“Ok, it’s five ‘til. He should be here any…” Tom was cut off by the sound of someone breaking the window.

They all turned around and saw the broken window and the glass on the floor, but nobody was there.

“What the?” Jake asked as he got up and walked over to the window.

Tom walked over to the widow as Jake walked over and stood by Dick. Steve stayed on the couch.

Jake and Tom both pulled a gun and held it up ready to shoot anyone who came near them. They looked around then back toward the couch when they heard Steve yell. He was gone.

Jake then turned away from the couch and looked around again then looked to the window when Tom yelled. He was gone too.

Jake backed up, getting nervous now. “W-who’s there?”

“Your worst nightmare,” Batman said as he stepped out of the shadows and charged at him.

Jake yelled and pointed the gun at Batman, but Batman swung his fist into Jake’s face, causing the man to fall to the ground unconscious next to Dick.

When the three were taken care of, Batman rushed over to Dick’s unconscious form. He cut the ropes binding his wrists, gently rolled him over onto his back, and gasped when he saw what they did to him. He then pulled the tape off his mouth, picked him up carefully, and took him to the Batmobile.

The cops were just starting to arrive as the Batmobile sped off.

“Alfred,” Batman said switching on the two way video screen, “Dick’s been hurt. Stand by to check him over when we get there.”

“Very good, Sir,” Alfred replied before the screen went black.

“Hold on, Dick, we’re almost home,” he said as he made the Batmobile go faster.