Barry had been there for about ten minutes now and was still running around trying to figure out how to stop the nanites. "There has to be someone controlling them from a remote on the outside."

"Can't you block the signal?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know how," Barry said frustrated and ran off to try something else.

"E... EM..." Artemis tried.

Dick went over to her. "What?"

"E... M... P," she gasped out.

'EMP?' His eyes suddenly went wide. "An EMP!" Dick yelled at Bruce and Barry.

Barry hit his head with his hand. "Of course. An EMP will stop anything electronical for a while. That should give us enough time to..."

"Dick!" Artemis yelled.

Dick jerked his head back to Artemis. "What's wrong?" he asked worried.

"C... ca... can't... breath," she gasped out.

"Bruce, do you have an EMP emitter in the cave?" Barry asked.

Bruce ran over to the gadgets he had in the cave then went over to the suffering teens. "This will knock out the computers and phones too," he warned Barry.

"Who cares?" She's suffocating!" Dick yelled.

"We'll worry 'bout that later," Barry replied. "Just hit the button."

Bruce hit the button and an electrical wave made all the lights from the computers go out. Bruce heard Artemis take in a huge breath and all of them breathed deeply for a few minutes.

"How you doing?" Dick asked Artemis as he helped her sit up.

"Better. Thanks," she replied.

"Good thinking on the EMP," Dick said smiling at her.

"Remembered it from the Reds incident," she replied smiling back.

"Ughhh, let's not do that again," Wally said.

"Well, unless we can figure out how to get rid of these things, it may happen again," Barry replied.

"Then we can just use the EMP thing to keep them off," M'gann said.

"But we need the computers to figure out how to get rid of them," Barry said.

"But Bruce had been working on it for three hours and he hadn't even come close," Wally said.

"Yeah, the EMP is the closest we got," Dick agreed.

"They're right. I searched every way i could and nothing worked," Bruce said.

"Then what shall we do?" Kaldur asked.

No one answered. No one knew how to. "We wait for the next letter," Dick finally said sadly. He then walked quietly to the elevator and returned to the house.

Everyone watched him leave, but did nor said anything to stop him. "He's blaming himself for this, isn't he?" Wally asked.

"Steve's attacking him by hurting us," Artemis said.

"And the letter this morning told us that Barbra's not doing any better," Bruce added.

Everyone looked at him sadly. "He knows that the attacks are going to get worse, doesn't he?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, and even though we tried, we couldn't keep you five from being hurt. He's losing hope that we can stop him," Bruce said. "Steve's winning, and if we don't find him soon..."

"Master Dick may give himself up to keep us sae," Alfred finished.

Everyone looked at Alfred then at the elevator sadly. They had to find Steve.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick sat on the couch and just looked at his hand. He felt horrible. Barbra was getting raped, his friends almost died, and he knew that Bruce and Alfred were going to be next. He sat there wishing that this would all go away.

"Master Dick?" Alfred asked when he came out of the study.

Dick didn't look up at him, he couldn't. "Alfred, maybe i should just go back to him."

Alfred's eyes went wide. He then walked over to him and knelt down. "Master Dick, don't say that. You know very well that you can't go back to him. If you do, he may hurt you worse than before, or worse."

"Yeah, but then you guys would be safe, and I could help Barbra," Dick replied.

"How do you know that?" Alfred said as he stood back up, but stayed in front of him.

Dick opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it. He didn't know what to say to that. "I don't," he said as he looked away from Alfred.

Alfred nodded once then started to walk to the kitchen to begin supper, but stopped when he heard a knock at the door. He went to the door, but when he opened it, all he found was an envelope addressed to Dick.

"Another letter for you, Sir," Alfred said as he walked back into the living room.

Dick sighed, took the letter, and headed to the study so he could get to the cave. "Bruce, I got another letter," he said as he walked into the cave.

"Letter?" Barry asked.

"Dick's been getting letters from Steve for a while now. He sends them to Dick in the mornings and evenings," Bruce explained.

"Or whenever he feels like acting," Dick said as he walked up to Bruce.

"Oh, ok. What does it say?" Barry replied.

Dick opened the letter and again read it out loud for everyone to hear. "By this time I guess you can believe me when I say I can do whatever I say. Even thought you figured out a way to save your friends, and yes, you using the EMP shut them off for good, so now their bodies will start to absorb the nanites, but that means you have just prolonged their fate. I'm sure it drove the bat crazy that he couldn't figure out how to stop the nanite before three, and I'm sure you and everyone else is curious to know how I managed to infect them with the nanites in the first place."

"I think that crossed all our minds," Wally said.

"Shut up, Baywatch, and let him finish," Artemis said angrily.

"Do you remember that mission when all of your friends were stuck in that room with the smoke? The one that you had to save them from? I think you were going up against Sportsmaster. Well, he didn't set that one up, I did. I got the nanites from a friend of yours here in Gotham, the Mad Hatter. He was all to glad to hand over the bugs once i handed him a few pictures and other things of his girl."

"I wondered if that's where he got them," Bruce said.

Dick saw that the next part was about Barbra and didn't want to the others to hear that part, so he decided to skip that part and read it later. "Now, as for my next target. Turn on the six o'clock news and you'll find out." He then put the letter down and looked at Bruce.

"That's it?" Wally asked. Dick nodded. "How did he know we survived?"

"Or that we used the EMP thing to stop them?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know," Bruce said. "Some how he's bugged the cave."

"What time is it?" Kaldur asked.

"It's almost three thirty," Barry said.

Dick ignored the rest of the conversation. He walked over to a corner of the cave and opened the letter again to read the part about Barbra.

Our Barbra is doing fine by the way. Very fine. Dick, my boy, I
love her. After Sarah left me I felt alone, but with Barbra I feel
complete. I'll never let her go. In time she'll love me too. She
says she misses you and she can't wait to see you again,
although she doesn't like what your fate is. Maybe she can
change my mind.

Dick put the letter down and looked up at the other who were still talking. He pulled the letter from this morning then walked to the elevator. He had to talk with Gordon. He managed to get out of the cave without anyone noticing.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick walked into the police station and up to one of the officers. "I need to speak with Commissioner Gordon, please."

The officer nodded. "Follow me," he said then headed toward Gordon's office. The officer knocked then cracked the door enough to see in. "Commissioner?"

"Yes, what is it?" Gordon asked.

"It's the Grayson kid."

Gordon quickly stood up, causing some of the objects on his desk to fall over, and walked quickly to the door. "Dick, come in." He then turned toward the officer. "Thank you, Officer Myers." The officer just nodded and left.

Once Dick got into the room, Gordon shut the door and walked back to his seat behind the desk. "I was beginning to think he hadn't sent you any more letters."

"Sorry," Dick said a bit guilty. "I actually got two letters today, one this morning and one tonight."

"Why didn't you call me earlier?" Gordon asked a bit disappointed.

"Well..." Dick began, but was interrupted by his cell phone going off. "Hello?... No, I'm fine. I came down to see the Commissioner and... No, I walked... No, no one approached me... No, I can get hom. I'll get a taxi..."

"I'll take you back," Gordon said.

"Commissioner Gordon just said he'll take me back to the house... Ok, I will." He then hung up the phone.

"Did you not tell Bruce you were coming here?" Gordon asked.

"No, he was busy talking, and i kind of wanted to talk to you alone."

"Ok. So you were about to tell me why you didn't call me."

"Yeah, well, for one thing, I didn't get up 'til noon. Me and my friends were up 'til about five. When I got downstairs, Bruce gave me the letter then we found out that he was gonna attack my friends at three."

"Did he?"

"Yeah," Dick replied sadly. "He found a way to get nanites into their bodies somehow and he used those to hurt them."

"Are they ok now?"

"Yeah, Batman had an EMP thing and stopped them. When I got the letter tonight, he said he knew we had the EMP thing and that the nanites were off for good, but that i just prolonged their fate."

"So he's going after them again," Gordon said more as a statement.

"Yeah, but not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"He said that the next target will be seen on the six o'clock news tonight."

"Hmmm... Ok, I'll keep that in mind." He then hesitated before asking the next question. "What about Barbra?"

Dick looked away sadly and guilty. He then pulled out the letters. He had re-written the parts about Barbra so that Gordon wouldn't learn his and Bruce's identities. He then held them out to Gordon.

Gordon took the letters and read them. When he got done, he closed his eyes. Dick thought Gordon was about to cry. "I never thought he would do this. I'm sorry, Commissioner," Dick said.

Gordon sighed and opened his eyes. "It's not your fault, Dick. I've dealt with these guys kind of guys before, it's just never been my daughter as the victim though."

"But it is my fault. Steve's only doing this to get to me, or at least he was when he first took her," he said sadly.

"Dick, don't lose hope. We will find her," Gordon said trying to convince himself as much as Dick.

Dick smiled. "Yeah, that's what Bruce said."

Gordon looked down at his watch. "Well, it's almost five forty-five."

Dick looked at him surprised. "Really?"

"Is there something wrong?" Gordon asked concerned.

"No, I just didn't think I walked that long."

"What time did you leave the mansion?"

"It was almost three forty-five."

"You walked for almost two hours?" Gordon asked surprised.

"Well, I have a lot to think about."

Gordon nodded. They both sat there in silence, not looking at each other. "Well, we better get you home. With six o'clock getting closer, Bruce is probably worried sick."

Dick nodded then both of them got up and walked to the door. When Gordon opened the door. Officer Myers was standing there with his fist up about to knock on the door. "Officer Myers?" Gordon asked.

Myers put his hand down and held up the letter. "I was suppose to give this to Mr. Grayson."

"Who gave it to you?" Gordon asked.

"Not sure. He didn't say his name and he kept himself hidden," Myers answered.

"Sounds like Steve," Dick told Gordon as he took the letter. "I must be close to wherever he's gonna hit tonight," he said as he opened the letter.

You're taking a pretty big risk being out so close to 6. You might want to
get out of the station. There's no way you'll evacuate the place in time.
You might wish to get out in the next few minutes, and make sure you
save my beloved Barbra's father.

"Commissioner, we have to get everyone out, now," Dick said quickly.

"Why?" Gordon asked alert.

"He's targeting the station."

Gordon turned to the rest of the room. "Get everybody out, now!" Everyone started to scramble out of the building and telling the other people in the other rooms. "We're not going to get everybody out in time," Gordon said as he walked to the front of the building, making sure Dick was right by his side.

"He knows that, and it'll be my fault," Dick said.

Gordon looked down at him. "Dick, stop. None of this is your fault, and if anything you're saving people's lives. Now get out of the building," Gordon said sternly.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Steve walked into the room. Barbra tensed up and pulled the covers up to her chin again. Steve smiled and went over to the TV and turned on the news then went and sat down next to Barbra. He got up close to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Well, they got a fifteen minute warning. The news though should be arriving... Ah, there they are."

"This is Sally Pennet with you live at the Gotham Police Station. We got a call just a few minutes ago saying that the Gotham PD will be targeted tonight at six o'clock exactly. As we can now see, everyone is scrambling to get out of the building."

Barbra watched in horror. "Dad," she said quietly.

Steve kissed the side of her face. "I told our little bird to make sure dear ol' Daddy Gordon got out."

She looked at him even more afraid. "Dick's in there too?"

Again he kissed her, trying for her lips, but she turned her head before he did so he kissed her cheek. "I believe in our little bird's ability to get both himself and daddy out."

A tear escaped her eye and she closed her eyes and turned her head away, until she head an explosion coming from the TV. She jerked her head toward the screen and saw flames coming from the building.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's now six o'clock and the Gotham PD is up in flames." She put one of her hands up to her ear to hear whoever was talking to her. "I have just been informed that the Commissioner and young Dick Grayson was in the building when it exploded," she said sadly.

Barbra gasped and Steve narrowed his eyes. "Don't disappoint me, boy," he said quietly.

Again Sally had her hand up to her ear then she turned and saw Gordon and Dick getting up off the ground. "They're alive,"she said relieved. She and the cameraman ran up to the two. "Commissioner, was everyone out of the building?"

"No," Gordon said sadly. "There were still a lot of good men and women in that building."

"At least you and Dick got out safely," Sally said.

"Barely," Gordon replied. "We had to jump out the door when we heard the explosion go off. We were lucky this time, but I promise that whoever did this will pay for the lives he killed tonight."

Barbra closed her eyes relieved when she heard that Dick and her dad were ok. "See, babe, I told you our little bird would come through."

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Bruce, Alfred, and the team all sat in front of the TV waiting for whatever Steve had planned to take place. "Uh, Bruce, that's the police station," Wally said when Sally came on.

"You said Dick went down there," Artemis said alarmed.

The next thing they saw was the building explode. Bruce stood up and the others tensed in their seats. "They're alive," they heard Sally say and everyone let out the breath they were holding and Bruce ran out the door.

"At least he's ok," M'gann said.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick sat on the front end of one of the police cars. Gordon was busy helping some of the officers that got caught in the explosion. 'More people got hurt because of me,' Dick thought sadly.

"Dick!"

Dick looked around and saw Bruce pushing his way through the crowd. He ran toward Bruce and nearly knocked Bruce over when he got to him.

"Dick, are you ok?" Bruce asked as he knelt down so he was at eye level with Dick.

Dick was crying. "More people got hurt. He killed them, Bruce, because of me."

Bruce pulled him back into a hug and just let him cry. He rubbed Dick's back, trying to comfort him, while he looked around at the scene.

Gordon happened to look over, just making sure Dick was still ok, and saw Bruce. He said something to the fire chief then went over to the two.

"Commissioner, are you alright?" Bruce asked. Dick pulled out of Bruce's embrace, but stayed very close to him.

"Yeah, and luckily we got most of the officers out before the explosion," Gordon replied. "We lost some good men and women in there, but not as many as we would have if Dick hadn't gotten that warning letter."

Bruce was about to respond, but Sally walked up to them. "Excuse me, Mr. Wayne, but we found this on our van before we left the station. It was addressed to Dick," she said handing the letter to Bruce.

"Thank you," Bruce said.

Sally nodded then walked back to her camera crew. "He loves sending you those letters," Gordon said to Dick.

"Bruce, can you read it?" Dick asked. He didn't think he could get through another letter.

"Sure," Bruce replied as he opened it. "If you're reading this, I hope it means you survived, and hopefully you made sure my beloved Barbra's father is safe too." Bruce saw Gordon clench his fists, but remained silent. "Just remember, my boy, that it's..." He stopped. He couldn't say that because he already knew Dick was blaming himself for everything. "... it's not over yet," he changed. "I've decided to give you a little break for a while. I want to spend time with my Barbra, so you won't be getting any letters, I won't be watching you, and no body will be targeted until the next day. Enjoy your day off, my boy."

Dick was looking down at the ground. No one said anything for a few minutes then Dick ran off toward Bruce's car, or at least Bruce hoped he did. "We don't know where this guy is, and he's going to be hurting Barbra all day tomorrow," Gordon said. "You changed a part didn't you?" he then asked.

"Steve was trying to remind him that everything that has been going on, including tonight's events, is his fault. He's already blaming himself. He doesn't need anyone else telling him it's his fault."

Gordon nodded in agreement. "I just don't know where else to look. I had my men out all day looking for her. Maybe you could ask Batman if he could try tomorrow."

"I'll ask," Bruce said. "I'd better make sure Dick's in the car and didn't run off somewhere."

"Ok, good night, Bruce."

"Good night, Jim, and if you need anything, just call."

"Thanks, I will," Gordon said with a smile.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

The next morning, Dick came downstairs to find Bruce and the team eating. "Morning, Dick," M'gann said as Dick walked into the dining room.

"Morning," Dick replied.

"We're going out to look for Barbra today," Bruce said.

Dick looked at him surprised. "All of us?"

Bruce smiled. "Yes. I figured with more people, we'd be able to find her faster."

"He's gonna let us run around Gotham," Wally said excitedly.

Dick smiled. "When do we head out?"

"As soon as we get done eating," Bruce answered.

As soon as Alfred placed the food in front of him, Dick pretty much inhaled his food. He wanted to get out there and find Barbra before Steve could hurt her any more. It made him sick to think that Steve would be raping her all day.

When he got down eating, Dick and the team ran to the cave to change. Bruce just slowly got up and followed after them. "Good luck, Sir," Alfred said.

"Thanks," Bruce replied then walked out of the room.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

It was almost one, and no one had found any signs of Barbra or Steve. They all met at the front of the damaged police station so Batman could give his report to Gordon.

"We've checked everywhere in Gotham. It's like they're not even here," Wally said.

"Not everywhere," Conner said.

"Yeah, what about downtown?" Artemis asked. "I know I haven't been down there yet."

"All of the buildings down there are used by people that live mostly on the streets. It could be a place to try," Kaldur said. "We should tell Batman about it."

"Hey Rob, do... Rob?" Wally asked when he noticed that his best friend wasn't around.

"He must have gone off to the downtown area," Artemis said.

"M'gann, please tell Batman that we are going after Robin," Kaldur said.

M'gann nodded then sent the mental message to Batman. "He said to go," she said.

Kaldur nodded then they headed off toward downtown.

It didn't take them long to catch up with Robin. "Rob, why didn't you wait for us?" Wally asked.

"I didn't even follow you guys back to the station," Robin said.

"You didn't?" Wally asked.

"No, I came up with the same thing you did. If we hadn't found him by now in the regular part of the city, then he must be here in the downtown area."

"Have you had any luck?" Kaldur asked.

"No, i just started myself," Robin replied. He looked over to the far part of the area then back at the team. "You guys go look on that side," he said pointing to the opposite side of the area he just looked at, "and I'll take this side."

"Why don't I help you on this side and they take that side?" Wally suggested.

"No, that side's bigger than this side. You'll need all of you if we're going to check the entire area quickly," Robin replied.

"Very well," Kaldur said. "Be careful."

"You too," Robin said.

The others headed off, but Wally stood there. "You sure you don't want me to help you?"

"No, KF, I can handle it myself."

"Ok," Wally replied skeptically then ran off.

Robin sighed in relief. He didn't want the others to find Steve or Barbra. He wanted to find them himself. He wanted to take Steve down personally for what he's done. He figured since he'd already checked that part of the area, he was sure they wouldn't find them, unless he somehow missed them.

He started with the building he was on and checked all the windows. After a few more buildings, he was worried that he was either wrong about them being downtown, or he missed them somewhere, but those thoughts went away when he heard a scream from a few windows down from where he was.

He climbed the few floors down and looked through the window. What he saw made him look away disgusted. He heard Barbra's screams for Steve to stop, and he couldn't bare to watch.

He slowly opened the window and quietly climbed in so Steve wouldn't hear him. He was almost to the bed when Barbra spotted him. "Robin!" she yelled.

Steve jerked his head up and stared at Robin. He then angrily got off Barbra and stomped over to Robin. "I thought i told you I wanted to spend time with Barbra!" he yelled.

Robin stood there glaring at him. "You've hurt her for the last time," Robin said then charged at Steve.

Steve avoided the punch Robin threw at him and grabbed Robin's arm and pulled him into a choke hold. "You never knew this, but i studied martial arts for fifteen years. I'm a black belt, kid, and you're gonna pay for interrupting us."

Robin struggled against Steve's hold. He tried to pull Steve's arm away from his throat, but Steve's grip only got tighter.

"Stop it!" Barbra yelled. "Stop it, he can't breathe!"

"That's the point, babe," Steve replied with a smirk oh his face.

Robin stood there gasping for air as he continued to try to pull Steve's arm away. "Guys, help!" he yelled through the mind link, but he never heard a response. Everything went black.

Steve loosened his grip and dropped the now unconscious Robin on the ground. He then picked up his clothes and began to put them back on. "If he found us, Bats can't be too far behind. We have to get out of here."

Barbra just sat there staring at Robin's unconscious form.

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Well another chapter done. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know in a comment and as always...

Thanks for reading :D