I leaned against the phone booth, watching Dick pull apart the old fashioned phone. Inside wires protruded, the hidden computer in pieces. It was quiet until I asked the one question that'd been on my mind for the last hour. "Did you mean it?"

Dick hummed, his focus on the mess of motherboard.

"I mean, of course you meant it or else you wouldn't be here right now, but why pick me?"

I'm useless bar information one might need to gain power over others. Father made that lesson very clear.

He paused, his hands hovering over his work. "I picked you because you're my best friend Maddie and I'd do anything to protect you."

Guilt and happiness warred against each other in my mind. "But all your super friends and your family, they still want you."

"They don't matter to me as much as you do" Dick said lightly, as if he was commenting on the weather. "If my time with Slade taught me anything, it's that I need to value the people in my life that I wholeheartedly trust. When I left my adoptive family, Bruce's love felt contingent on me being the perfect Robin and he was just itching for the opportunity to take my suit away from me. Neither team ever felt like they could fully trust me because I had to keep my identity in order to protect the rest of my family. When I met you, I don't know, I think I felt a sense of belonging I've never had before, after we got to know each other, it felt like I didn't have to hide from you like I did the others."

His words felt heavy as they settled in the air. "You felt like you were alone" I slid my hands into my sweatshirt pocket.

"For a long time" he nodded. "And I accepted that, until I met my very best friend in the world. I love my family and everything but they're not you." This time he looked up, a teasing grin on his face. "Course who wouldn't love you, Princess"

I rolled my eyes. "I thought we agreed you would call me that anymore"

"No no, you said not to call you that, I didn't agree to anything" he pointed a finger at me, and I realized that he'd changed the subject, successfully might I add.

He's good at that too.

"But seriously, where are we going next? Are we gonna go forward with telling the team or are we going somewhere else?"

Dick was quiet for a moment as he twisted two copper wires together. "What if we stopped running?" A brief look of triumph crossing his features before he was pulled back into our conversation.

"You know what would happen"

"But you're better trained than you were when we escaped and with my combined fighting ability of Slade and Batman, we could stand a real chance. Plus it's two against one" he looked up at me hopefully.

"We would lose, horribly." I stepped into the telephone box, gently taking Dick's task away from him and grabbing his hands. "I know you want to be done. You deserve to be done and to find someone. But he's not going to stop, not unless he gets what he wants because he hates to lose"

And there it was.

That nagging thought.

I should give myself up.

Convince Slade that I'll do his bidding again, on the condition that he leaves Dick alone.

That's just it isn't it. Dick wouldn't let me go, Slade won't let me go.

"Dick, I need you to promise me something" I looked up at him, selfishly missing his bright blue eyes.

His posture shifted. He knew what I was going to say.

"Promise me you'll live"

"Maddie.. whatever you're about to do. Don't do it" he pleaded, tightening his grip on me. As if he held on it would stop me.

I set my hand on his cheek, lightly tracing an old scar. "You are the best person in my life, always will be. But I have to do this if you're ever going to get a chance at seeing Damian grow up and the boys argue and Bruce being a better parent. You deserve the world Dick Grayson."

Quick as I could, I pushed a pressure point on Dick's neck, instantly knocking him out. He collapsed forward and I carefully leaned him against the wall.

Despite the guilt, I couldn't help but feel at peace. It was nice, like I was flying. Carefully, I searched Dick's utility belt for his communicator, the one that would call the big bad bat.

"I thought you didn't want to see us again" a gravely voice garbled over the staticky line.

"Sorry B, just have a package to drop off. He'll show up in the Gotham Zeta Tube, but he'll be unconscious and pissed as soon as he wakes up. Good luck" I dropped it, smashing it beneath my heel.

With one last apologetic look toward Dick, I turned on his holoscreen, tapping his new location as I stepped out of the phone booth, closing the folding doors behind me.

I could barely hear the robotic voice before a brief flash of light took my only friend away. Now all I had to do was get dear old dad's attention.

Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Pulling up my hoodie, I slipped into the streets, mostly sticking to shadows in order to avoid any Titans' involvement. They didn't need to be in harms way.

The way home was vague city signs and an abandoned factory under an old clock tower, at least that's what it looked like on the outside.

Inside once moving gears stood still, giving the compound a chilly atmosphere. Well - more than usual.

I took the long way to the main computer, stopping in what was my room. It wasn't welcoming and I certainly didn't have any warm memories in here.

Now Dick's room was another story. It was cluttered with broken furniture, likely from a fit of rage when Slade realized what had happened.

Ghosts of the past fluttered through the dusty air, playing out small moments. Long nights talking to an actual human being, one with emotions and values, that didn't see humanity as one big money maker. Dick never hurt me, not ever. He'd reassure me when I had doubts about myself, whether I knew it or not.

Carefully shaking the thought, I made my way to the den, one Dick and I had lovingly dubbed, The Throne Room, where Slade did all his brooding.

A large computer took up half a wall, easily. I poked around, pushing random buttons until it began to come alive once more.

The motion detector should've activated the moment I walked in, but the computer itself turning on, well Slade would be on his way.