The Collector

Chapter Seven

The cave was quiet, the bats that occupied the various edges were out hunting in the moon light. The Batman was already home for the night, he sat at the computer, elbows on the desk, his fingers clasped together and his chin resting on them. His eyes were periodically switching between each of the screens. Jason quietly descended the staircase and walked up to his adoptive father, hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie and his hair still dishevelled from wearing his helmet on patrol. He stood for a while behind his father's chair, watching the screens along with him.

'What are you still doing up?' Bruce asked, not turning his eyes away from the screens.

'Alfred said it's time to come up.' Jason responded flatly.

'I'll be up later.' Bruce replied, just as flatly.

'You've set up a facial recognition trigger, if any of the cameras pick him up, the system will let you know. You don't have to watch it.' Jason said.

'I know,' Bruce sighed, finally sitting back in his chair. Jason came around and sat on the edge of the desk.

'This Dick Grayson...it's really bothering you, isn't it?' Jason asked.

'It's a problem, I was never able to solve.' Bruce admitted. When Jason didn't look away, Bruce continued. 'After his parents died at the circus and after everything that happened with Zucco, I knew it was only a matter of time before the circus owner lost custody of him.' Bruce explained, 'So I decided to take him in myself.'

Jason's eyebrows raised at this information. 'What made you change your mind?'

'I didn't. CPS got involved a lot sooner than I'd anticipated. Probably because the news coverage was so big.' Bruce rubbed his hand over his tired face. 'Before I could properly get a lawyer to investigate it, they had already taken him. Then came all the red tape. It didn't matter how much I pushed, they refused to grant me custody. The irony is, I later found out that due to lack of space at the orphanage he was sent to, they later sent him to juvie.' Bruce shook his head, his lip curled in disgust.

'What happened?'

'I kept fighting, but it ended up taking years. Then just a month shy of me finally getting the papers signed, he escaped and disappeared.' He looked up at Jason with sad eyes. 'I failed him.'

'No, the system failed him,' said Jason. 'Take it from someone who had to deal with it a lot before you came along. It sucks.'

'The silver lining to the whole thing, was that when you came along, I already had a lot of the authorities in place. It made adopting you and Tim a lot easier.'

'Guess I'll have to thank him when we find him then.' Jason grinned.

'God only knows how he got involved with a mercenary. As far as I can tell, the worst thing he is guilty of is blackmail and potentially accessory to murder. But under certain circumstances, he may not have had much choice.'

'You're worried we won't be able to get him away from the hit man?'

'No,' Bruce confessed. 'I'm worried that he won't want to come.' If Richard refused to part ways with the man he was working with, then Batman would have no choice but to treat him as an accessory. The thought of the boy being put behind bars again didn't sit right with him.

'Well, nothing you can do about it tonight.' Jason jumped off the desk and started back up to the manor.

'You're right,' Bruce followed. Finding Richard Grayson could continue in the morning.

oOoOoOoOoOo

As far as punishments went, Dick didn't think his was that bad. There were things he would rather being doing with his time, but he could also think of worse things Slade could force him to do than simply cleaning the weaponry. He sat crossed legged on the floor, methodically working his way through each of the guns, taking them apart, cleaning them and then reassembling. Then he moved onto the vast collection of knives they had between them, polishing each blade and sharpened their edges. He had been working his way through the task for several hours down in the basement, when suddenly, the lights went out. He sat still in the pitch darkness for a moment, listening intently and allowing his eyes to adjust to the lack of light. A slight shuffle from the other side of the large basement caught his attention. There was someone else down here with him. As far as he was aware, Slade was out on errands.