"What were you thinking?!" Tim exclaimed.

"It wasn't like they were going to kill me." We were in the Batcave, Jason and Damian were leaning against the wall, Bruce had his arms crossed and his hip against the table I sat at while Tim was seated next to me, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Alfred set a tray of tea on the table.

"I'm not so confident with Barry or Oliver." Tim folded his arms. "Why were you even at the mountain anyway?"

I felt more like a scolded child. "Everything turned out alright. Clark was there."

"You're lucky he was." Bruce said gravely.

"Might I also remind you guys that I was in a room full of heroes, you're telling me that a single one of them doesn't have the 'no kill' rule." I stood. "Not that I don't love this little interrogation, but I have one more place to go tonight."

"Sit." Jason pointed at my chair. "We're not done with this conversation Princess."

"I'm done with it." I briefly considered making a run for it.

"Eren, we need to talk about this." Bruce nodded toward my chair. I reluctantly took a seat again. If Bruce 'emotionally stunted' Wayne was asking to talk over something, it's best to let him. "Things have changed within the league, while Clark Kent is on our side for now, I have little faith that he will remain that way, especially when certain things come to light." He sighed. "The deaths of Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Artemis were devastating to their mentors. I don't think they'll ever fully recover."

My stomach dropped. "What things?"

"Master Bruce, I believe now would be a good time to stop." Alfred glanced between Bruce and I, sending a disapproving look at his charge.

Oh they definitely know something.

Bruce sighed. "Barry reached out to me when he realized who your father was. He sent over the file."

Jason and Damian perked up while Tim looked worried. I schooled my expression into cool neutrality.

Stay calm.

"Your father was Slade Wilson." He watched me carefully, when I didn't react, his eyes narrowed. "You knew, didn't you? You knew you weren't just a sought after pawn to him."

"Wait wait, her old man is Deathstroke?!" Jason stormed up to the table, pointing an accusatory finger at his father. "When did you find out?"

"Before Eren started living in Metropolis." Bruce responded calmly. "I deleted the file as soon as I saw what it was."

That explained why I didn't find it on the batcomputer when I'd been snooping.

"So was everything a lie?" Jason rounded on me.

"Leave her alone Jay." Tim warned, I set a hand on his forearm.

"No, it's okay." The cat was out of the bag it seemed. "Alfred, Damian, Jason. You might want to sit down for this."

I controlled the narrative. Perhaps I could do some fine tuning to the story, make it something new, something that didn't ruin their image of Dick.

Once everyone was seated, I began crafting. I was honest in the beginning, relaying my rather... eventful childhood, until I hit where I met Dick. I shouldered the blame for everything, how it was my fault Wintergreen was in the Mountain. I left out the parts about The Room and Dick's torture. They didn't need to know. "Inevitably my friendship with your older brother led to his eventual death. It wasn't until Slade realized that he couldn't use Dick to control me, that he killed him in front of me. Then he threatened all of you, he had me for a while. It took me two years to finally kill the man and destroy his empire."

Silence descended on the cave, broken only by the bats squeaking above us and the sound of the computer running.

"Is Eren your real name?" Damian was the first to speak.

"No. It's Maddie, I dropped it when Dick died. The association that went along with the name hurt too much, I also couldn't go by Charlie either. So I named myself Eren John. The last name is to honor Dick and everything he did for me."

"You would still prefer we call you Eren?" Bruce steepled his fingers.

"Please do. I'm trying to move on with my life, all that trauma, it dies with Maddie."

Tim and I made eye contact. He knew I was lying to some degree. Dick and I hadn't told him everything.

"How could you not have known that your father was abusing you?" Damian asked it quietly, he looked like a kicked puppy.

I shifted slightly in my seat. "After Dick told me what was happening, I did a lot of research. It's not unusual for a child to not know that they were being abused. Their life is normal to them and I was very sheltered growing up. Slade and Wintergreen were my only points of contact with the outside world. I didn't know any better."

"You said you had to be told?" Jason seemed to have finally grasped the rather solemn atmosphere.

Alright, so we were having this conversation.

Nodding, I steepled my fingers in my lap. "When I was young, Slade and Wintergreen were my whole world. I knew how to handle my father's emotions and caught on to every shift in mood by the time I was seven. I knew how to avoid his wrath, when he was calm, Slade wasn't that bad. Maybe a little stern, but Wintergreen was my true caretaker, even then he was only around a few times a week."

"They were good?" Tim's brow was furrowed.

"The issue with abused kids, whether it be emotional or physical, is that no kid is abused twenty four hours a day." I paused, allowing that to sink in for a moment. "They will have happy, or as close to happy, memories with their abuser, but those memories are often too overshadowed by the negative ones."

And damn do I feel guilty for living in the happy memories.

"How come you don't flinch?" Jason didn't mean the question maliciously. He was curious, they all were, it seemed.

That's okay, I've had some time to process bits of my childhood.

"You haven't done anything to warrant that kind of reaction." I offered. "But yes, I do flinch." This time when I stood, no one objected. "I still need to go out one last time tonight, I'll be back."

This little blast to the past certainly wasn't helping the itch beneath my skin.