Dick and I sat together in his apartment, trying to hack into Father's network. We'd been up for two weeks, trading off sleeping and hacking.

I set a bowl of soup next to Dick who'd been furiously typing away for the last three hours. I laid my hand over his. "It'll be there after you eat something"

"I'm so close" he grumbled distractedly, lines of code moving fast enough that even Wally would've had a hard time keeping up.

"Richard John Grayson, if you do not put the computer down, I will take it away."

He let out a sigh, leaning back against the couch and scrubbed his face. "Fine, but only because my brain is fried"

"That's why Tim's on his way" I joined him, his bowl in hand. "Are you sure you're ready for him to know that truth? That it might reach Bruce?"

Dick took his soup, eating some of it before he answered. "I'd rather have one person know that can help us than have no one know and we're completely on our own." He admitted. "I don't want Tim to tell Bruce, but I can accept it happening" he took another bite. "Are you ready for him to know?"

"Well he's not going to know the nitty gritty is he, just enough to help us" I leaned an elbow against the back of the couch and then I set my hand against the side of my head. "Of course we could spin a story that's believable like we did with the Titans, keep the idea that you even worked for Slade under wraps."

"No" Dick shook his head. "The secrets are getting to me, it'll be good that someone else knows" He fought back a yawn, placing the now empty bowl on a side table.

"Do you think our plan is going to work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean. He's going to figure out what we're doing and if he does before we're done.."

"I know Princess" Dick grabbed my hand. "And it's risky, burning through his firewalls, but if we take everything away, give it to the rightful heir of all his money, maybe we'll have struck a blow he can't recover from" Before I could respond, a knock came from the door, I made a move to get up but Dick was faster than me. "You really need to stay off that leg"

"Yeah yeah" I waved him off, picking up my own laptop and settling in. Codes trickled across my screen at a much slower rate than Dick's. I definitely wasn't a hacking genius but I was the one to help my father make said encryptions, most of which he obviously improved upon and changed.

"We need your help Timbo" Dick led his little brother into his living room.

"You're not.." he trailed off.

I touched my face subconsciously. No mask.

Huh.

"You were going to find out anyway" I shrugged. "Name's Maddie, pleasure to meet you again Tim"

Dick gestured toward the other couch for Tim, while gently lifting my leg, setting it on a pillow on top of the coffee table. "Stay" he pointed at me.

"Only if you get me more soup" I smiled up at him.

He rolled his eyes, making his way toward the kitchen.

Tim watched the interaction with interest, sitting as if he was trying to take up as little space as possible.

"So Tim, how are you holding up?" I adjusted myself, making it easier to sit with an elevated leg.

"Um, shouldn't I be asking you both that question, I mean, you were the ones in the mountain" He looked between his brother and I.

Dick scooped soup in a bowl, seemingly ignoring our conversation. "I'm better than I thought I'd be, I mean things could've certainly been worse"

so much worse.

"How could that have possibly been worse?!" Tim shouted.

"Don't yell at Maddie" Dick scolded with a frown. "and she's right, it could have been worse. There were survivors, even better there were survivors from the original attack. That's more than any of us could have anticipated." He handed me my soup carefully before reclaiming his spot.

"And we do have something we want to tell you before we get to work" I took a bite of my soup, even if my body begged me to stop eating.

Dick leaned forward against his knees. "You have to swear that you won't tell anyone about this, swear on Thomas and Martha's graves"

Tim's eyes widened. "I swear"

Thomas and Martha were Bruce's parents as far as I was aware. Why would they take swearing on them so seriously?

"Okay" Dick nodded holding his hand out for me to take, I immediately set my soup on the other side table. I probably wasn't going to finish it anyway. "You remember when I disappeared?" Tim nodded. "Well I went to Jump City and formed my own team of heroes" Dick began to explain how Father had lured him into becoming his unwitting apprentice. "Then I met Maddie, I'd only been there for two weeks, we didn't trust each other at first" I laughed, understatement. "But we got close and eventually we escaped together."

"How did Deathstroke blackmail you?" Tim was running his hands through his hair.

"Half of it was the threat of killing the Titans. Slade is a brutal man who wouldn't hesitate, the other half was me" I gave Dick's hand a squeeze as I explained. "Dumb heroes always have to save the day"

"So you stayed in that hell hole for her?"

"I did, she was my best friend and the only person I could fully rely on in that place" Dick nodded. "Plus I'd told her who I was, she knew the Titans' identities, she knew half the hero community at the time." By the look on Tim's face, Dick was quick to assure. "But she never held it over my head. She was simply a secret keeper"

"I had one job" I shifted slightly. "That was to find weaknesses, identities, anything that could give Slade an edge, I knew about it. But I kept the information to myself because if I told Slade, I also knew he would use it against Dick."

"But why? Why was he so dependent on you?" Tim's brow furrowed. "Why are you so important?"

I took a deep breath. "Because Tim, I was his daughter and the second he found out about my ability, he put me to work."

Tim stared at me in shock, but I could practically see things clicking into place in his head. "That's why he's so desperate to find you both, he knew you could cripple him"

"That's what we plan to do" Dick passed his computer over. "But both of us have been up for so long I'm seeing double, could you join our team, ruin this sadist so I can come home?"

"Yes" Tim responded immediately, already reading the code. "You've gotten really far" he let out a low, impressed whistle. "Let's take him down"