Christelightlavo commented about whether people knew about Slade or not and I had this idea so thank you for inspiring me to write this

Also, I'm writing this in the middle of a storm so I'll scream if the WiFi goes out before I can post this

Damian took after Bruce in a lot of ways. Their glares were uncanny, they both shared a lack of grins whilst on the job and outside of it and they both loved to give lectures about mistakes they would never make but actually have. Another thing they shared was doing background research on everyone in their lives. Damian was doing just that. His research focused on Dick and his early days as a part of the Teen Titans. He was part of the Teen Titans now and wanted to see if his team was better than the original. Of course, they were both very different teams and they should be treated differently. But he was competitive and wanted to shove their successes in Dick's face. He couldn't help it. As he researched, he came across a newspaper article about Robin going missing. He thought it odd but assumed he was just off-world or in a different country at the time. That was until he read further and found that the rest of the Titans were still on Earth. Odd. Surely Dick wouldn't go on a solo mission. He researched foreign newspapers during the same period for signs of Robin but there was nothing. Dick just fell off the Earth. Then he comes back not too long after. Being curious, he made a note to ask Dick about it when they next saw each other.

Kori and Dick were sparring the next time Robin spotted him. Deciding that the other could spare a few minutes to explain, he approached him. "Something wrong Damian?" Kori inquired, spotting the new presence in the room. They didn't stop sparring, however. They never did when they were having conversations with other people. They said they did it because in battle they'd get distractions and should be able to continue to fight, though, most people thought it was because they were both too competitive to stop without a winner. "I was doing research on the old team and came across something odd. I thought Grayson would be able to explain it," Damian responded. 

"You're gonna have to be more specific than 'something odd.' A lot of weird things happened back then," Dick answered.

"Your disappearance from the Titans." The sparring stopped. Damian instantly knew this had to be something serious from that moment on. Kori gave Dick a sympathetic look and held his hand. She must know what happened too. "You don't need to know," Dick stated. His tone was stern though his face looked hurt by the request to talk about what happened. Damian raised an eyebrow at this but didn't drop his want to know. "I would like to," he countered.

"I wouldn't like you to so drop it," Dick snapped. Kori held his hand tighter to tell him to calm down but it didn't work. He ripped his hand from her grip and exited the room, mumbling about something he was late for. They both knew he wasn't late for anything.

Damian made the mistake of following him when he was heated and continued his quest to find out what happened. "Why don't you want to talk about it? You talk about everything no matter how mundane it is," Damian stated as he tried to catch up with the older. Dick walked faster to get away from him, heading towards the garage of the tower. He didn't respond which made Damian grow in frustration. He picked up his speed and ran in front of Dick to make him stop. "Tell me what happened," he demanded. 

"Why do you care so much? It doesn't involve you or anything you can use against me," Dick spat. He pushed the younger aside and continued his warpath to the garage. 

"Why would that matter?"

"Because that's all that matters to you. Everything is about whether you're better than so and so or if you can use it to make someone else's day shitty. Believe it or not Damian but you can be a massive douchebag when you feel like it." Whatever this was, it had to be something important or else Dick wouldn't have reacted like that. He was the sweetest person alive usually so this must have some sort of lasting effect on him. "Grayson, you're being rather rude." Dick let out a sigh and paused before entering the garage. 

"I just don't want to talk about it alright? He did some awful things and I don't want to relive that."

"He? Who's he?"

"If I tell you will you stop following me?" Damian nodded.

"Slade. Now scram." He entered the garage and Damian heard the rev of his motorcycle through the door. 

"Slade?"

Remembering Kori's expression when he mentioned the disappearance, Damian decided to gain his information from her instead since his brother wasn't playing ball. He found the ginger floating beside the window, cupping a hot mug of tea and looking out onto the driveway to watch Dick speed off into the city. She sighed and took a sip. She guessed he wouldn't be back for a few hours. "You know what happened to Grayson," Damian stated. She turned to him with a solemn look. The feelings from that time had flooded back to her. Her heart thumped with anxiety and worry for Dick. They'd been very close but Slade got between them often. He was Dick's passion project. All he wanted to do was find him and bring him to justice. He nearly lost his life because of it. "I do," she responded.

"I want to know more about it," he said. She raised an eyebrow at him and looked back to the window. 

"You'll have to ask him about it." Damian sighed and thought of a way to get the answers he wanted. He had a name of who made him disappear, he could use it to his advantage. There was no harm in trying. "Grayson said you could tell me about it." She gave him a curious glance. "He said he doesn't like to talk about Slade but he trusted you to tell me."

This seemed to work as Starfire floated to the couch and patted the seat beside her. He took the seat and watched her trembling hands bring the cup up to her lips to calm herself with the warm drink. "It started when we were on a mission. We knew something was off about the bomb but didn't think much of it. Robin wasn't there when it went off or didn't go off," she began. Her eyes fell to the drink, watching the small bubbles float around. It seemed to calm her down whilst she talked about it which only made Damian feel less at ease. Whatever Slade did, it was something horrible. That didn't kill his curiosity though. He craved to know what was just so terrible about his time during the disappearance that made it a taboo subject. "Slade isolated him and revealed that the bomb we'd been working to stop had released nanoscopic probes that would kill us without a moments notice. He was in control of them. All Robin had to do to save us was become his apprentice." She sniffled at the memory and clutched her mug tighter. It almost crushed underneath her strong grip. Damian furrowed his eyebrows together. That would explain the disappearance. "One night after searching for what felt like forever, we found him. We fought and we just couldn't understand why he would do that to us. Raven would've felt if there was mind control. He wasn't some sort of zombie." She shook her head at the last sentence, as though she remembered something silly from that night. Damian couldn't see what would be that silly. "So we fought but Robin hesitates. When he does, Slade sets off the probes as a warning. I can't tell you how painful it was. We passed out from the pain and when we came to, he was gone again." A shiver ran down her spine. "We found him with Slade so he set off the probes and made Dick watch. The only way to escape, Dick found, was to give himself the probes. He knew Slade hated to lose so he was freed. The machine was destroyed and he was back but he wasn't the same."

"How so?" Damian inquired. This was the first time he'd spoken during the story and he couldn't help but let his voice crack with sorrow at hearing the story. 

"He was obsessed with bringing Slade to justice. He made himself sick, isolated himself more than usual, hardly slept in favour of spending more nights out alone." She took a sip and wiped at the tear that had appeared upon retelling the events. "He eventually came to his senses. Decided that he could catch Slade without risking his health."

"Sounds like Grayson," Damian muttered. He bit his lip before asking another question. "What did Slade do to him as his apprentice?"

"Apart from constantly reminding him who was the boss and what was at stake, he trained him. He didn't show mercy when there was a mistake made. He didn't show sympathy when Dick no longer had the strength from constantly working. He didn't care about anything other than making him his perfect mini-me." Damian winced at the phrasing. He'd been treated the same and he didn't even recognize it was wrong since he'd only known mistreatment. He found himself getting tight chested. A mix of anger and empathy whirled around him. "That would explain why Grayson was so hesitant to talk about it himself," he stated. Kori nodded and finally spared him a glance. 

"I suppose he likes to keep it a secret. There are very few who know what happened."

"Would Grayson be upset if more people knew about it?" Kori thought for a moment before shrugging to herself. 

"He likes to keep it behind him, in the past. Dick wasn't the same back then as he is now. He's worked hard to regain his happy personality so he tries to hide anything that will make him differ from that." She put her hand on Damian's shoulder with a small smile. "I think that's why he loves you so much. To make up for the years he wasn't able to be your big brother and help you. In all fairness, no one had any idea you were born." Damian hesitated to shake the handoff which was more in character for him. "But, that's Dick all over. Never giving himself a break. Not even when he needs it." He was shell shocked that Dick went through something so horrible yet acted so kind and sympathetic now. It would've been easy to take that experience as a sign to give up on the idea of justice or wanting to kill the man who'd abused him. "Do you know when he'll be back?" She shook her head.

"He needs time to get the memories back in his 'vault' as he likes to call it. He'll probably be back by morning."

Indeed, Dick was back by morning. It was 3 am when he rolled into the garage and hopped off his bike. He went to turn the lights on only for them to be turned on for him. He raised an eyebrow, finding that Damian had turned them on for him. If anything, he expected it to be Kori. The younger looked up to him with a softness in his eyes that Dick wasn't familiar with. "Sorry for before. I was being a total asshole and you didn't-" He was cut off by Damian hugging him tightly. It took a moment but he happily returned the hug with a soft laugh. "What's this for?"

"I know what happened. I'll happily have Slade's head for what he did." Dick shook his head, running his fingers through Damian's hair as they remained in the hug. He didn't know how much he needed it. "Thanks but I'd rather you not get on Bruce's bad side." He kissed him on the forehead and they parted. "I'll give you a piggyback ride back to your bedroom," he offered. 

"I'm thirteen," Damian groaned. That didn't stop him climbing onto the older's back which earned a taunting giggle. 

"i'M tHiRtEeN," Dick mocked with a smirk. He was spared of a punch due to what the younger had learned and he was well aware of that. That's why he said it. 

"Hey Grayson," Damian said as they began the walk to his bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"You are a...fairly good brother figure."

"Thanks. You're a fairly good brother too."

i've gotta look after my nephew tomorrow, pray for me