Bruce Wayne. That was the name of the man who wanted to take him in. The problem? He would be too late. Because he was not going to survive another month in here and that was the time he would have to wait. He would be waiting to die. He had gone without enough food for quite a long while already and his severley weakened body was not going to stand any more of the older kids violence. Apparently, he was the perfect target. He was small, he was young and, worst of all, he was a gypsy. Sometimes it showed when he spoke, but he didn't speak much anyway. No need giving those guys any other reasons to let out their anger and frustration on him. Frustration. The most prominent emotion in here. Because in here was the Gotham City juvenile detention center. Which he was determined to escape. It was his only chance.

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

The big screen showed three open windows. Each of them contained a live feed from one of his hidden cameras. The left one currently viewed two certain teenage girls, one sporting red hair, one blond. Dick was amusing himself greatly watching Artemis creep through the dirty hallways while Barbara casually followed her, being careful not to trigger Dick's installations. It looked like the blonde did not even take notice of the way her friend was behaving. From Dick's point of view, this made the whole scene even funnier. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he was slightly impressed by the secret archer's interest in something so absurd as simple rumours about a ghost. He had not expected his blonde teammate to be into these sort of things. At all. But then again she was probably only trying to prove those rumours wrong. That was probably not the best basis for trusting her to not spill the truth once she found out, but the chances that she wouldn't were higher if he showed her his trust than if she got behind it herself. He opened another window on his computer to keep sight of the two girls from another angle. Then he decided to switch on the sound function and began listening into their conversation.

"You'll see. Just have some patience."

Dick snorted when he heard Barbara's tone. The redhead seemed to have lost all patience herself.

"Could you please stop being all mysterious and just spit it out?" Artemis irritated voice rang out from the small computer speakers.

The blonde's impatience almost resembled a certain speedster's by now. But it wasn't Dick's fault she wasn't finding out anything yet. It wasn't like he had specifically instructed Barbara to torture her new friend with just enough knowledge to wake the highest amount of curiosity possible without revealing too much. He guessed that she wanted to be on the other side of that situation this time. Dick had not come out to her all at once either, after all. And considering how much it entertained him to watch the two girls interact like this, he was not going to judge. A good couple of minutes of similar conversation and confusing travelling through Gotham Academy's old, unused hallways later, Artemis and Barbara found themselves in a strangely vast classroom with only an old green couch with a flower pattern occupying a small part of the room. Dick watched as Barbara gestured for a highly confused Artemis to take a seat on the lonely couch in the center. With a hint of suspicion towards the other girl, Artemis slowly walked over and carefully sat down, eyes focused mostly on Barbara while taking in the rest of the room as well. Ah yes. Dick could definitely see the secret hero identity acting up in her. Preparing himself, he turned on the microphone from his side and switched on the program that would make his voice sound somewhat different.

"Barbara... What are we doing here?" she asked. Looking down at the old, tattered and slightly dirty couch she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And why must I sit on this thing?"

Forgetting that they could now hear him over his self installed intercom system, Dick exclaimed, "That's my best couch!"

Both girls jumped slightly at the sudden sound of a third voice, especially since it resonated with an eerie kind of echo (he couldn't pass up the opportunity to actually play ghost for now). But other than that their reactions were quite different. Artemis sprang up from her position and immediately searched the room for the voices origin, asking who was there. Barbara rolled her eyes, though she could not completely hide her smile.

"Very funny." she praised, sarcasm obvious in her voice.

Dick let out a short laugh while Artemis did not seem amused at all. She scowled at Barbara, demanding an explanation. Said girl lifted her hands a little in defense, palms turned outwards and spoke calmly.

"You don't have to look at me that way. I told you we were going to meet the ghost today. And here we are."

Artemis lifted one brow.

"Oh yeah? Why can't I see him, then?"

"He's a ghost...?" the redhead replied as if to say duh.

Artemis sighed.

"Whatever. So... he can hear us?"

Barbara nodded her confirmation.

"And see us?"

This time it was Dick who decided to answer the question.

"Oh yeah. I've been watching you this whole time... Artemis."

He managed to startle Artemis a second time. He had predicted that this was going to be fun, but he had not known just how much he enjoyed trolling his teammate. The blonde narrowed her eyes.

"How do you know my name?" Then she pointed a finger at Barbara, glaring. "What else have you told him?"

Not that she could have told him much of anything, but better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully for Barbara, Dick chimed in again.

"Calm down, she didn't tell me anything. I just... know things. A lot of things, actually." If he was going to do this, he was going to make it as much fun and drama as possible. "I know your secret." he whispered and Artemis couldn't conceal the shiver it send up her spine.

"You don't know anything about me." she growled threateningly, almost making Barbara consider just walking out of the room and leaving the blonde to talk to the ghost on her own.

Dick chuckled lightly, destroying Barbara's doubts about the whole plan. He knew what he was doing. Dick Grayson always knew what he was doing.

"Yes, I do."

"I have no idea what kind of secret he's talking about," Barbara piped up in a cheerful tone. "But I can assure you, if he says he knows, you should believe him."

Artemis, apparently, did not.

"Oh? So what is my secret if you know so much?"

Dick smirked and was suddenly disappointed that the blonde could not see it.

"Let's say I'm talking about your... uncle. The one that likes to wear green. Want me to elaborate?"

Dick saw the older girl tense both at the words uncle and green. The message had been received. Barbara on the other hand had furrowed her eyebrows, not getting what her friend was trying to imply.

"Why do you care what her uncle likes to wear?" And after a moment, "Why do you know what her uncle likes to wear?"

Dick laughed again in front of his computer screen.

"Don't worry, Babs. It's nothing bad. I'm just making sure our new friend knows who she's dealing with."

Barbara simply shook her head and went to sit on the couch. Artemis remained standing, crossing her arms.

"Actually, I still don't know who I'm dealing with. What's your name?" Artemis inquired in a false tone of friendliness, that Dick detected right away.

"Gray." he answered immediately.

He had decided on the name after his last talk with Barbara. The redhead sometimes called him that out of fun. It had annoyed him at first, but he'd come to like it. Artemis scoffed.

"Gray? What kind of name is that?"

"It's a ghost thing," he explained lamely. "We go by all kinds of weird names after we die."

The blonde seemed hardly convinced, but she let it drop for now.

"Okay... So, let's pretend you actually were a ghost-"

"Which I am."

"-then how did you die?"

He knew all about the stories and rumours that people were sharing. They were constantly moving around students, teachers and their families, every time twisting and changing a little.

"I'm sure you've heard something. How do you think I died? What do you think happened?"

Of course he already knew what she had heard. Jeez, he did not know what he would do without Barbara. Artemis hesitated, whether it was due to the delicate subject or the fact that ghosts were hard to believe in he did not know.

"I... I've heard this one story," she began. "It was about that fire six years ago. Some think that one student didn't make it out, but..."

"But what?" Dick asked.

"But as far as I've been told it was a girl. You don't sound like a girl at all." Artemis finished.

For a small moment, he felt a flush of memories and emotions try to invade his thoughts, but he pushed them away before he could focus on them.

"That's because it wasn't a girl who died that day. It was a boy."

He could not help the bitter edge to his voice as he said it. He guessed the girls heard it because Barbara flinched just the slightest bit and there was a brief flicker of sadness in Artemis' eyes. Momentary silence filled the room and he was not eager to break it. But then Artemis decided to do it instead.

"So you say that was you."

"Yes."

The blonde seemed to be fighting with herself. Dick understood. They lived in a world of science where things such as ghosts were often mistrusted, while at the same time they had a friends of whom one came from mars, one was a clone, one had superspeed and another one came from under the sea.

"So you two... know each other? Were you friends before...?"

She did not need to finish the sentence in order for the other two to underestand.

"Yeah, we've been friends for a long time already."

Dick appreciated Barbara's vague answer, Artemis did not.

"So you were friends before the fire?"  she pressed, obviously trying to find as much information on him as possible.

"Yes." Dick said with a sigh.

Suddenly looking defeated, Artemis went and sank into the couch cushions next to Barbara.

"So why me?"

Barbara furrowed her brows.

"Why you?"

Artemis turned her head a bit to look at the redhead.

"Why keep everything a secret and then just reveal this to me? I'm the new girl, you don't even know me." Artemis went on.

"Because you're different than the others." Dick said matter-of-factly.

"How so?" Artemis wanted to know.

"You aren't as easily fooled. You don't give up on things as quickly." He paused. "And you know how to keep a secret."

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I do not own Young Justice or any of the DC Universe characters.