Chapter 41: The Advancement Trial part 2

(Aden's P.O.V)

A few hours later after my practice, shower and dinner, Batman called us for a debrief on what went down at the Tower of Fate. Due to the fact that I was the most involved, I ended up recounting the whole thing from top to bottom. Batman's question ranged from my decisions to a detailed description of Klarion.

I answered all of his questions and held nothing back. When he was satisfied, he released the others and requested for me to stay back. I caught the tail end of Wally's 'He's so busted' and sighed. Staring at the Dark Knight, I couldn't come up with a counterargument to Wally's statement.
"Fate offered you a chance to learn magic but you turned him down. Why?"
Batman glared at me and questioned.

"Wow. You went straight for the jugular. Can't say I'm surprised though."
"Answer me."
If it was possible, the glare increased in intensity. I held up a hand and chuckled.
"Got it, no more jokes."
My face turned serious.
"The Lords of Order seek to maintain the status quo. They are not inherently good. They are just the opposing side to chaos. Remove chaos from the equation completely and you get an Overpowered prick like Nabu who doesn't need to conform to the moral rules and boundaries we 'mortals' abide by."

Batman tightened his hands into fists.
"You're suggesting that Dr. fate is only on our side for convenience sake and not out of an obligation to help. Need I remind you that he was part of the Justice Society?"
I shook my head.
"No, what I'm saying is that you cannot treat Nabu as a human. His duty to counter Klarion and other Lords of Chaos comes first and foremost before everything else. Good and bad are just two extreme ends of values that we as emotional creatures give meaning to. If to Nabu order means the death of a million people…"
I left that part unsaid.

Batman gave a curt nod.
"You still haven't explained why you refused to learn magic from him."
I snorted, giving him a knowing look. Oh Bruce if there's someone who understands you it's me. Someone who has seen almost every iteration of your character. I shuddered in fear, briefly thinking of The Batman Who Laughs.

"True but that's because you already know the answer to that. You probably already did even before I walked in for the debriefing."
I said while leaning back, confident in my assumption.
Batman stapled his fingers together.
"Enlighten me."
Ok. So he wants to verify his suspicions through me.
"Nabu seeks a host. He knows that Kent is way past his prime and will soon pass on, leaving Nabu without a way to interact with the outside world."
The whole thing still bothered me due to how close I'd come to losing my body.
"It is to my understanding that Kent Nelson gave his word to Nabu that he would find him a host before that happens."
Batman replied. I shook my head.
"That was probably the plan, until I showed up. Nabu sensed that I possess an affinity for his brand of magic and now…"
"He wants to groom you into his future host."
Batman cut me off.
"If what you say is true then proper measures will need to be taken regarding the Helmet."

"One thing I can tell you is that under no circumstances should you let Zatanna wear it. If that happens, Zatara will give himself over to Nabu willingly and without fail and the Justice League will lose its expert on magic. One might argue that the trade off is worth it because you'd be getting but after everything I've told you, would you take that chance?"
Our eyes met and Batman gave an intimidating, 'hn' that would have made an Uchiha jealous.
"This matter is no longer your concern. The League will handle it from here."
With that, I got up, understanding I was being dismissed.

"Send Aqualad in."

Batman added before I closed the door behind me.

(A while later)

"Hey, you up for a spar?"

Connor asked me as we waited for Aqualad to come and brief us on our next mission. To be honest I was feeling a bit angsty. I wanted to do nothing more than lock myself in my room and do the advancement trial but now we had another mission on the horizon.

Not to mention...Superboy wanted to spar. Knowing his anger issues; although they'd been lessened and our previous clash, this wouldn't turn out so well so...

"Maybe later, Connor. I'm still feeling tapped out from exercise."

I gently refused. No need for him to feel like I curved him. Even though I totally did.
"Cool."
He clenched his jaw and turned away, crossing his hands on his chest.

I ignored him and looked around at the others, Kid Flash was busy flirting with an unsuspecting Megan. A Megan who had his attention on Connor, looking worried and yearning at the same time. Robin and Artemis both looked our way upon hearing Connor's words. I narrowed my eyes at the Boy Wonder as he watched on with interest. His gaze jumping from Connor to me rapidly. He could no doubt sense the tension between us, comes with being a mini-Batman, I guess.

That might make him curious, leading to him questioning Connor on what went down between us, leading to Connor telling him about his suspicions, leading to The Boy Wonder investigating me leading to...Gah! Why can't anything just be simple?

Fortunately, Aqualad arrived with Batman in tow.

"We have our new task. We're deploying at 1800 hrs tomorrow for a recon mission at the Yellowstone national park."

Aqualad started while pointing at the holomap displayed by the projector.

'Yellowstone National park? That sounds like- I looked at the Dark Knight and met his eyes. A brief nod and I understood. Batman had finally decided to use some of the information I'd given him. Which admittedly wasn't a lot but the Red Volcano threat couldn't be left to chance. It had been the very first thing I had warned him about because of how serious the threat was. T.O. Morrow could destroy the whole world without anyone knowing by simply activating Red Volcano. His stupidity in trying to get Red Tornado back was the only reason the team had had a chance to destroy the Overpowered Android.

"... We're going to do a full sweep of the place. Leaving no stone unturned until we find out T.O. Morrow's hideout. Got it?"

Aqualad finished. I nodded along with the others but my mind was on something else.

Completing the Advancement trial tonight had just become all the more crucial. I needed to be Grandmaster level if we were going to go up against, Red Torpedo, Red Inferno and god forbid Red Volcano. The worst part? They all had elemental based powers on the level of Red Tornado.

(General P.O.V) (Dick Grayson) (An hour after The Brief)

"His behavioral pattern indicates a power hungry mindset. Probably as a need to feel secure after ___________. He obsesses over power. More often than not training to perfect the abilities he has access to while seeking to gain more. An introvert, opinionated yet content to keep silent just as much he speaks his mind, keenly observant, follows orders as long as they are reasonable and holds a slight derision for others, probably a side effect of learning about ____________and it's parallels from..."

"Why are there redacted words on his profile?"

Dick asked while reading the information contained in Aden's file.

Suddenly the computer screen displayed a 'Not Authorized' text box.

"No no no..."

Robin turned his sight back to his wrist mounted computer and tried to swipe through it quickly. He'd connected the device to the Batcomputer's database after hacking it to get information on Aden.

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"Please... please...tell me I got it..."

Robin sighed in disappointment.

"I didn't get it."

The elevator doors to the Bat-cave opened and Robin's hands swiftly ran through the Batcomputer's controls, the screen went black and Boy Wonder turned around with his heart pumping. How was Batman back so quickly? usually a League meeting took hours before it ended.

"Master Grayson."

Robin swallowed his sigh of relief.

"Oh hey Alfred."

"Playing games on the Batcomputer again?"

Robin groaned.

"That was one time Alfred and I was 10. You're never going to let me live that down, are you."

Alfred chuckled and walked in.

"Unlikely."

The aged butler went over to a table, placed away from the technology dotting most of the cave and placed down the tea set he was carrying.

"Now Master Grayson. I believe it's time we had a discussion on what privacy means."

Dick widened his eyes slightly before doubling down on his stubbornness and deciding to play innocent.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Alfred. But... I would be willing to listen if it wasn't for a prior engagement with Kid and Aqualad. Anyway, I'm open to rescheduling this talk for another time, I doubt that a-"

Robin quickly caught himself and cleared his throat.

"...Stalwart gentleman at the prime of your life gets out much and hence must seek other alternatives to entertain himself."

"You can call me old, Master Grayson, I don't mind."

Despite saying that, a dangerous glint on Alfred's eyes advised the young hero not to. Robin gulped and wished he was dealing with Killer Croc. None of his tricks were going to work on the former British soldiers.

"Old? Surely you're joking Alfred. Instead of disparaging yourself, my advice would be to stay paraged instead. Anyway see you later, I'm off to patrol."

With that, Dick turned and went towards the elevator.

"An alert came through to me that you were accessing files you were not authorized to."

Alfred's voice stopped him dead on his tracks. Dick closed his eyes and muttered 'dammit' under his breath. 'welp, there goes rule number 46, don't get caught.' Robin thought, semi-joking, referring to the guidelines Batman had taught him to pay close attention to.

"Now, you can go on your Patrol and come back later to deal with master Bruce or you can stay and have a cup of this freshly brewed tea I just made, with me. Either way, this is happening. Choose your poison, Master Grayson."

Dick couldn't stop the groan that came out of his mouth. He didn't want to deal with Batman's glare, so Alfred was obviously the better choice.

"Fine, but let's chess things up. I need atleast a win in something."

With a sigh, Robin responded.

Alfred's smirk told Dick that he might have made another mistake. The older gentleman suddenly looked eager.

"My thoughts exactly."

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